Washington Times
January 30, 2007
Pg. 6

By Jerry Seper, Washington Times
The commander of the Arizona National Guard told state legislators yesterday that the soldiers who left an observation post on the U.S.-Mexico border after spotting armed men approaching their position made "exactly, 100 percent" the right decision.
Maj. Gen. David P. Rataczak, adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard, told the state House Committee on Homeland Security and Property Rights that the soldiers did not abandon or flee their post but "relocated to another site" in accordance with the "mission we were given by the president."
"We believe that based on what happened that this was a chance encounter with drug smugglers working their way back to Mexico," Gen. Rataczak said. "We don't know how many men there were and we don't know how many of them were armed. But our guardsmen followed procedures to the letter of the law."
Rep. Ray Barnes, a Republican, asked the general why National Guard troops were sent to the border if they could not engage armed drug smugglers.
"If you're not allowed to do anything to stop criminal aliens, what's the reason you're there in the first place?" he asked.
Gen. Rataczak said that although the troops were armed and authorized to use force in self-defense, they determined they were not in imminent danger and retreated to call for help. The Guard troops were assigned along the border as part of a contingent of more than 6,000 National Guard soldiers sent by President Bush to support the Border Patrol.
The four soldiers at the site were members of an entry-identification team, assigned to monitor major illegal-alien and drug-smuggling corridors. No shots were exchanged, and no one was injured in the incident, which occurred Jan. 3 shortly after 11 p.m. near Sasabe, Ariz., about 70 miles southwest of Tucson.
The guardsmen spotted the men with their night-vision equipment and confirmed they were carrying rifles.
Gen. Rataczak said one of the soldiers confronted one of the armed suspects at a distance of about 50 yards and chambered a round into his M-16, but did not point the weapon at him. He said the alien carried what appeared to be an AK-47 assault rifle but did not point it at the soldier.
He said the guardsmen at the post, who have since been given commendations, then were ordered to relocate to a safer location by a noncommissioned officer at the site. The Border Patrol was called and responded 16 minutes later, he said.
"We don't know who they were, but the Border Patrol tracked them back into Mexico," Gen. Rataczak said. "Had the Border Patrol responded sooner, they might have apprehended these people, but we do not touch, detain, arrest or transport anyone" under existing operational procedures.
Several Border Patrol field agents have said the armed men could have been a scouting party for drug smugglers or might have been testing the National Guard's response to a cross-border intrusion -- an observation denied by Gen. Rataczak.
The National Guard troops have been deployed along the 1,951-mile U.S.-Mexico border as part of Mr. Bush's $760 million Operation Jump Start. They have been deployed from California to Texas to upgrade border security and give the Border Patrol time to recruit, hire and train 6,000 new agents by the end of 2008.
The troops are not empowered to get involved in law-enforcement duties.

"relocated to another site" does not mean flee?

ARMED MEN INVADE AMERICA AND OUR TROOPS RETREAT!!!!!!

God, last time Armed Mexicans invaded America we invaded them. Change the ROEs. Allow our National Guard to defend the Country.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail have joined the Arizona National Guard...

"Run away! Run away!"

The mission of the guard along the southern border is strictly one of an advisery/detection role. The Guard uses their resources to help the Border Patrol detect illegal crosses and then calls in the Border Patrol to make the arrests, since the Guardsmen have no legal basis to make said arrests. However the Guard does have better equipment and a lot more money to invest in detecting crossings because, let's face it, the DOD spends more money on toilet paper in a week than the Border Patrol has to get thru the entire year.

Doesnt take national guard to play seeing eye dog for BORTAG. It could be done a lot more efficiently and with personnel trained for that mission not soldiers being told to run away when approached by armed men illegally entering my country.

Their ROEs are so tight they've turned blue. About the only choice they've given them is to get killed, defend themselves and possibly (most likely) face some public trial time or retreat. It's stupid.

Without knowing the specific details of all their ROE's from the outside it seems frighteningly similar to the situation the Marines were forced into in Beiruit in the early 1980's. Not good.

Ok, the Guard has proven to be very effective in their new roles on the border, number of arrests went up, number of illegal crossings have plummeted, and the border is no longer as leaky as it was, although it isn't sealed yet. Look at it this way, the Guard is forming a picket line, using their superior equipment they can detect illegals crossing the border much more effectively than the border partol, since the BP's can make arrests and the Guard can't the BP's stay in the "rear areas" so to say and responding when the Guard says they've discovered something. This way the Border Patrol isn't stretched so thin and can respond in sufficent numbers to make the arrests when needed. Do you really want to turn the whole damn Mexican border into a warzone? That's just the kind of PR we need "National Guard opens fire on Mexican family fleeing from poverty to freedom" then on the line below "Three children killed, two more wounded." Yeah, everyone's gonna love the Guard then. The Guard is doing a great job as it is, if we wanted to engage in running gun fights up and down the 1,900 mile Mexican border we would send 20,000 "good ole boys" from Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tenneessee and Texas with their shotguns and hunting rifles to shoot anything that moves.

And bulldogg, the Guard is pulling this job right now to give the Border Patrol time to train 6,000 more men and women to patrol the borders and relieve the Guard.