Why not? Isn't patrolling and defending the border, like, I dunno, one of the jobs of a military?
Actually there's ample precedent for this.
When the Great War broke out something like a quarter of million Regular Army and National Guard Troops were patrolling the U.S.-Mexican border. You see, Mexico was in the throws of a violent revolution which spilled over the border into the United States. The infamous Poncho Villa raid on Columbus, NM was only a small part of that story. Actually, the town was garrisoned by the US 13th Infantry, which shot the ever-living shit out of Villa and his banditos and then chased them into Mexico.
Over in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, Colonel Robert Lee Bullard was waging a counter-insurgency against Villistas, Mexican nationalists and Texas vigilantes, which amounted to dozens of small gun-fights a month and scores of casualties, all right here on American
soil. Gotta love Texas.
Such operations were actually right in the U.S. Army's wheelhouse.
Pershing, Bullard and the rest of the Regulars were experts at low level counterinsurgency, having fought them in the Reconstruction Era South, the Indian Wars and the Philippine Insurrection.
After the Columbus raid, the president directed the War Department to invade Mexico, an operation which led to several battles with the Villistas and the Mexican army.
So I say go ahead, send the army down to the border. But this time skip the invasion, eh, amigo?
Viva Villa?
You ought to read up on what makes the Ranger's unique...for instance they can go into other states to catch a Texas criminal. They try to alert the local law enforcement...usually.
ReplyDelete