So, we are sending our soldiers and airmen to protect the border from illegal immigrants who are trying to get into the United States. It seems like overkill to me, but that is just my opinion.
President Trump’s supporters see it as a strong and positive action, showing he has the guts and good sense to use his power to make us safe - exactly why they voted for him more than a year ago.
That being the case, let me address this blog to them. My other readers, who already agree with me, can focus on the legality of using our troops, or the cost of using our troops, or the abuse of power this move represents.
Let me share a personal experience. Yes, something that actually happened to me nearly 50 years ago. When I was a bit player in another military mission to protect our nation, one authorized by President Richard Nixon.
I was a warrior in the great battle against about 200,000 Post Office workers, who had gone out for what would become an eight day strike. Nixon’s response was to call out about 24,000 troops to replace them and get the mail moving. And I was called up.
Now, no one in my Army Reserve unit was experienced in mail delivery. We were, in fact, an MP unit, and there were no law enforcement actions that we could perform - certainly we could not arrest the strikers.
But we could go to Post Office facilities and do, well, something. I never got inside one - my job was to drive a duce and a half - that’s a two and a half ton truck without power steering or brakes - filled with soldiers down the Long Island Expressway from the suburbs to New York City. And then, after a few hours, to drive them back.
As far as I know, no one actually delivered any mail. That’s what the papers said at the time.
But we went to the post offices, and we were able to go home each day. We could take a shower, have a good meal, get a good night’s sleep and be ready to report at the crack of dawn the next day.
And that’s not what is being reported, or explained, or even questioned about the President’s plan. Sending between 2,000 and 4,000 troops to help protect the border - they are supposed to support Border Patrol agents, not actually catch the people slipping across from Mexico - may seem like a good idea at first.
But, let’s ask some questions. Like where will they actually go and how long they will stay there. Like who will feed them and supply them with all the other things they need, from gasoline to the spare parts needed to maintain vehicles. Heck, helicopters have a precise and regular maintenance schedule. You replace this part every 100 hours of flying time, that one every 500 hours.
So, when you are setting up the military to do a job, you have to realize that only about 10 percent of the troops are on the front line. Much of the rest is a long tail of tactical support.
So, with 4,000 troops on the border, there is a good chance you are also committing 20,000 or 30,000 or 40,000 other men and women to keep them fed and supplied, healthy and properly clothed. You need someplace for them to sleep, unless they will all be in tents in the wilderness for two or three months, or six months or even six years. No one seems to have decided that yet.
I know. You don’t tell our plans to the enemy. You don’t say you want to be out of Syria in six months - wait, yes you do - but you certainly don’t tell National Guard troops how long they will be on a border support mission. Or their wives or husbands, or their bosses or their children. Or the bank that wants a mortgage paid on time. Or anyone else.
Hey, wait. Suddenly that strong and dramatic gesture seems to have some problems. Well, who ever thought that sending the army to support border patrol agents would be so hard.
Probably someone who once served in the army. I wonder if our President asked any of them.
No, I don’t.
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