Trading Afghanistan for Texas?
My nephew Noah Johnson is a stryker driver in the 2nd Calvary Division. He called my folks last night with news. He previously was planning on deployment to Afghanistan. Now, he things they are going to be trained for and assigned to border patrol duties. How much of this scuttlebutt is the straight dope and how much is just idle speculation, I dunno. I know Bush wants to send the National Guard to guard the border.
My family is thrilled. They think patrolling the wilderness of southwestern United States will be far less hazardous than duty in Afghanistan would be.
And they probably are right.
It’s just that the idea of sending armed troops to try to catch illegal aliens seems to me to be cluster f*** waiting to happen.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Bill, you are fooling yourself if you think they will be anything more then window dressing. Would be nice if they could actually arrest and track the illegal crossers. I imagine they will all be setup for photo-ops. Bush is becoming the great fluffer. Can’t wait for the real act.
Cruise: Get a grip. An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants are in the country today. How many potential terrorists have already crossed into our country through the porous border. 6,000 troops isn\’t nearly enough, but they\’ve already stated that that is a start and with two week stints it numbers over 156,000 troops. It\’s a start. It seems to be very easy for you to be critical while your sitting here in Central Illinois where we stand very little chance at being directly hit by terrorism or see the daily effect that illegal immigrants have on our society. I have to wonder if you would feel the same way if you worked a manual labor job in Southern California, New Mexico or worked in a building classified as a high priority target of terrorists.
I am in shock today that I actually support W on an issue, that felony charges are not warranted for illegal immigrants, and that they can be a vital part of our economy (necessary if you ask me). I certainly wouldn’t be here if both of my grandfathers hadn’t emigrated from Italy/Hungary to work in the coal mines of NE Pennsylvania. Anybody know if there was an uproar in the Northeast when all those folks came over and broke their backs and lost their lives in those coal mines? Both of my grandfathers died before I was born, one of black lung (the other I might have died of the same, but don’t want to lie for my point).
Window dressing indeed, CC. If our national guard were elastic, you’d be able to see pretty well through it right now, stretched as thin as it is. I always feel so bad for the folks who signed up for one weekend a month playing paintball and maybe helping during national disasters – and have ended up across the world in a world of hurt.
Cara: “I always feel so bad for the folks who signed up for one weekend a month playing paintball and maybe helping during national disasters – and have ended up across the world in a world of hurt.”
Whoa there Nelly! That is NOT what the contract states when you sign on the dotted line and take the oath. NO ONE has that misconception – at least not anymore. There were enough call-ups in GW-I to erase any misconception those in the NG might have had about ‘playing paintball’.
National Guard soldiers go through boot camp, and they do so with an M-16, not a paintball marker.
With GW-II starting a dozen years after GW-I, all those who might have even possibly thought they couldn’t be called-up have had plenty of time to get out.
I think you dishonor these brave men by insinuating they didn’t know what they were getting into. They did and those who are joining now do know they could be sent to war. When they go, they fight bravely, sometimes better than ‘regular’ Army and Marines.
Don’t feel bad, feel proud. Be glad that these types of people still exist to do this for you. Support them Send them mail. Remember that it in them and those like that that gave us this country.
Cara, I always felt bad for the people who sit at home on their rears and never learn how the real world works. I am not sure where you get the idea that Guard and Reserve troops are inferior and join with the notion they will never be deployed. But if that is the case why not join up yourself if you truly believe that. ALL soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen take an oath to defend this country, not for two days a month but 365 days a year for the durantion of our enlistment/comission. We are held to the same standards and training as the active duty military, Illinois is even one of the few states that posseses a Army National Guard Special Forces unit. I can promise you no one in the Guard thinks they are going to slide by on just one weekend a month, that is unless they know as little about the military as you.
We already have the military service deal for illegals/pending legals whereby they serve their military term (I’m not sure if it’s all branches) and one of the perks is U.S. citizenship if they so desire.
What I propose is in lieu of deportation, we make the 12 million (I think it’s closer to 20) serve a 2, 4 or 6 year border patrol service under the auspices of the various State National Guards.
This wouldn’t have to be full time. It could be 4 months out of the year. It would, however, be treated under the auspices of the military code of justice. If someone is delinquent in their duty they would immediately be deported or subject to imprisonment.
No one would be force to “enlist”. It would be a privalege and the much vaunted “path to citizenship. The alternative would be to go home.
Who better to protect the southern (or northern for that matter) border than those who have crossed it?
Ooops – I forgot part 2 of the program – we increase the legal immigration quotas from points south to say, 1 million per year, with the RFID cards, or whatever – we must keep track of everyone we can.
Otherwise, we’ll be debating this in another 10 years.
BTW, Bill, if your nephew is training for Afghanistan, that is where he is going. Looks like the NG will be pulling 2 week stints on the border. This means that they will probably count as their Annual Training (AT).
Remember, if the rumor is good news, it probably isn’t true.
Luckily the National Guard troops who help at the border will not be armed. However, you hit on an interesting subject. To rotate 6,000 National Guard troops to the border every two weeks will require 156,000 of them in just one year. That is a large number and those people will have to be pulled from somewhere.
Bill,
“…sitting here in Central Illinois where we stand very little chance at being directly hit by terrorism…”
The Peoria area is very high on the list of strategic targets for both terrorists and our enemies abroad. Our fine city and her surrounding suburbs are the home of one of the largest (if not the largest) manufacturers of diesel engines and heavy equipment in the world. I’m not sure of the exact percentage, but I’m willing to bet the Yellow God supplies quite a few military vehicles with its diesel engines. Any stoppage in production at said manufacturer would be highly detrimental to our ability to fight.
Cory has good point, and the Dept of Ag Lab on University is also a strategic target
I believe there is a large difference between military targets and terrorism targets. Cat and the Ag Lab could potentially be viewed as military targets, highly unlikely as terrorist targets, in my opinion.
Given the use of Caterpillar’s equipment in the Middle East I am sure there are more than a few would-be terrorists who wouldn’t think twice about sticking it to big yellow. Especially, if a drunken kid can waltz right in to the world headquarters undetected. The same goes for the ag lab, filled with all kinds of research projects and chemicals not available to most civilians. Because of the minimal security at either location it would be an easy way to put the fear of terrorism right in the heart of the country with relatively little planning or risk. The Ag lab would also be an excellent place for a terrorist to stock their shelves with all of the resources available there.
Yes, with a direct strike at Central Illinois, the Terrorists could critically effect the ability of the entire world to rip and shred asphalt into small chunks.
Sorry folks, Peoria doesn’t have what the bad guys want, including the cachet of New York, L.A., or Washington D.C.
This is the kind of place they go to hide.
Bob III, hmmm, so I don’t think we have a problem? Get real, we have a MAJOR problem. Did you even bother to listen to his speech? He didn’t say anything that will secure our borders. He is sending NG’s to do paperwork, build roads, get their pictures taken, train the border guards. What he really should do is allow these great soldiers to lock and load, patrol the border in their Hummers, have air support and actually let them round up these illegals. THAT will send a message back across the border.
No Bush is trying to save face with the conservative party that he is quickly losing/has lost. It’s sad to see so many people get fooled by his speech.
As for Peoria being a target, if a terrorist gets a chance to set off a dirty nuke, it will effect the whole country, no matter if it was Chicago, New York or Peoria. Our economy will tank. If they use biological, well is anywhere really safe?
So Bob, I do feel safer then the poor people of S Cal, and the other southern states, but I am feeling just as much outrage as they are for the complete lack of leadership over this illegal problem.
Cara, as for our poor NG’s they knew the possible need to be called to action. Most of them are extremely proud of what they are doing.
CC, I would think that adding intelligence resources and building infrastructure such as roads and training border patrol personnel would be a GOOD thing??
You say yourself it is a major problem and yet when the President makes strides to fix it you deride him for doing so. You continue to mention this as a picture taking expedition which is so obviously untrue it is not even worth arguing the point.
Regarding lock and load, the Mexican government is an ally and it is in the US’s best interest to keep them as such. Bush has repeatedly declared this is not a military mission, it is assistance to existing border patrol to help stem an out of control problem of illegal immigration and potential homeland security risks. Do you really suggest the Ntl Guard should shoot and kill the Mexican mom with her baby trying to escape poverty?
Anon E Mouse is absolutely right, Peoria is a hiding place not a destination for terrorism.
“Regarding lock and load, the Mexican government is an ally and it is in the US’s best interest to keep them as such. Bush has repeatedly declared this is not a military mission, it is assistance to existing border patrol to help stem an out of control problem of illegal immigration and potential homeland security risks. Do you really suggest the Ntl Guard should shoot and kill the Mexican mom with her baby trying to escape poverty?”
Mexico is our ally? Really. No they are one of the more corrupt countries that endorses the rampant migration of their underclass. The only reason we are pussy-footing around is we are afraid that the leftist party may take power, the same party that is closely tied with Chavez, who is as anti-American as they come. Bush needs to declare it as a military action. That would get the message out that breaking our immigration laws is unacceptable. And please don’t play that shooting a baby crap. How about the mother that left her dead 3 year old in the desert?
As for Bush making strides, again you must not have heard his speech, but instead let the MSM tell you what to think and believe. Bush is pro-immigration, wants to grant amnesty to these people. No wonder all the legal immigrants are so PO’d that they played by the rules, doing their best to assimilate and aren’t out waving their countries flags, and refuse or demand we give them even more special treatment, like bilingual print and even phone prompts. I think the fact that they refuse to even learn our language says something.
[...] This also had the effect of postponing a July 4th/welcome home picnic for my nephew Noah, who’s on leave for slightly more than a week from the U.S. Army. He’s a stryker driver, and we expect him to ship off to Afghanistan later this year. [...]