Trump has announced his plan for stopping the Mexican invasion force at the border: 5,000 troops, denial of asylum status (they can spend years fighting that in court) and lots of barbed wire.
There's ample precedent for this.
We'd once again like to point out that when the Great War began, almost the entire US Army and National Guard was deployed on the southern border.
In fact when Poncho Villa attacked Columbus New Mexico, the 13th Infantry kicked his ass and chased him back into Mexico where they kicked his ass again.
Read all about it in Pershing in Command, Chapter I: A Frontier Constabulary.
William Stroock (as in Stroock's Books)
Showing posts with label Poncho Villa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poncho Villa. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Friday, October 26, 2018
Down Mexico Way Redux
As the 'migrant caravan' of mostly young men approaches the Rio Grand let us once again point out that when the Great War began in 1914 almost the entire United States Army and Army National Guard was deployed on the border with Mexico becuase of 'civil unrest' in the latter.
That is, ole Mexico was in the midst of a bloody revolution which spilled across the border even before Poncho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico in 1916. Spoiler alert: Villa got his ass kicked and chased back into Mexico.
That is, ole Mexico was in the midst of a bloody revolution which spilled across the border even before Poncho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico in 1916. Spoiler alert: Villa got his ass kicked and chased back into Mexico.
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Down Mexico Way
So President Trump wants to send the army down to the Mexican border.
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?
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?
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