Thread: 4 Guardsmen were surrounded during face-off with armed men

Published: 01.19.2007

4 Guardsmen were surrounded during face-off with armed menBy Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Four armed Guardsmen from Tennessee were surrounded by 6-8 men carrying automatic weapons at one point during an encounter on Jan. 3 east of Sasabe.

This and other details have emerged about the widely-talked about incident in an account of the event released by Governor Janet Napolitano's office and confirmed by the National Guard and the U.S. Border Patrol.

Statements from legislative liaisons from the National Guard Bureau and U.S. Customs and Border Protection released by Governor Janet Napolitano's office paint a picture of much closer and potentially more dangerous encounter than has previously been described by the Border Patrol and National Guard.

According to the statements, a group of six to eight men wearing ballistic vests and carrying automatic weapons approached an entrance identification team site manned by four National Guardsmen from Tennessee on that night.

As they approached the Guardsmen, the armed men "split into two groups to surround the site," said the statement from the National Guard government liaison.

As the Guardsmen were putting their gear into the vehicle to leave, one of the armed men approached within 10 meters, the National Guard report said.

The National Guard report goes on to say "Both groups kept their weapons 'ready low' and never pointed them at each other. No shots were fired."

The Guardsmen finished loading their things and as they left the area the Guardsmen called Border Patrol to report the situation.

The Border Patrol statement says the agency was notified by handheld radio and satellite phone as the situation unfolded. After the face-off with the lone gunman who approached to within 20 yards, the Guardsman followed standard operating procedure and "retreated to their vehicle and drove approximately 200 yards away from the site."

The Border Patrol Statement says a Customs and Border Protection helicopter arrived within five minutes and flew over the area, and five Border Patrol agents were on site within 10 minutes.

The helicopter and agents on the ground tracked the armed men back into Mexico. The helicopter continued to hover in the area looking for possible threats from Mexico.

Nothing was taken or moved at the National Guard post. Both reports emphasized that the Guardsman were armed at the time of the encounter.

"We see this as a triumph of the training, discipline and professionalism of the Guardsmen performing this mission," reads the report from the National Guard legislative liaison.

Arizona National Guard spokesman Maj. Paul Aguirre said he hadn't released the report but confirmed the accuracy.

"It was successful response to a very serious incident," Maj. Aguirre said.

Gustavo Soto, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman, also confirmed the accuracy of the reports Friday although he said he doesn't know where they got some of their information. The Tucson Sector didn't release the statement because it wasn't theirs and because they wanted to make sure not to compromise their own investigation.

The details in the report won't interfere with their own investigation but could with the Mexican government's, Soto said.

Guardsmen working in entrance identification teams will continue to follow protocol, said Maj. Aguirre, which means: "If they feel physically threatened, they will react accordingly," he said.

If they were shot at, they would shoot back, he said.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/165363

Any time you can walk out of a situation like that alive you done good.

Originally Posted by MountainDog

Any time you can walk out of a situation like that alive you done good.

What you say is true MountainDog, these men did the right thing, but don't it just gall the butt, to know this is happening on our side of the border and not a dam thing we can do about it! There will be more and more of these happenings until some of our National Guardsmen are shot or our border guards esp. since our Gov. seems so prone to believe the word of these thugs, in our Presidents on words " by our own actions these thugs will be impowered.

I agree with MontainDog. Under the circumstances, not only did they follow orders but they did the right thing. They had a group of equal or greater numbers approach them. Had they stayed they would have disobeyed orders and all they could have done was challenged this group. Two things would have happend. One, the group would have ignored the challenge and turned around and we would have had the same results. Or, the group would have felt threatened and fired upon the Guard troops. Then we'd have both groups firing at each other, people getting hurt or killed and no doubt, American survivors getting Court Martialed for disobeying orders.

"If they feel physically threatened, they will react accordingly," he said.

I certainly don't blame the Guardsmen for retreating when outnumbered the way they were.

Guardsmen shouldn't have been put in the position of feeling "physically threatened" in the first place.

THANKS SENOR BUSH.

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For all those who agree that retreating from armed Mexicans on American soil is OK, I have just one question. How far are we suppose to continue to retreat to? California for all intent and purpose is overrun from Mexico and nothing is being done except to ensure that when they leave there they receive more and more benefits from other states. Where are Americans going to be safe? Most of us are not armed and don't believe in violance but it seems that we are not being protected within our own borders.

I think we all agree, the NG unit was not to blame for their retreat because they were simply following orders. With that said, I think we have a real policy problem when our NG is directed to standdown when confronted by armed illegal invaders. Anyone that steps across our border armed to the teeth should not be able to do so unchallenged, not even when they outnumber our own forces. The cowardice to act against any armed invasion by our border policy makers is unacceptable.

Once again, the NG unite is not to blame, but the policy makers whom make the rules and set policy regarding the rules of enagement along our borders are cowards and should be very ashamed. Doesn't anyone think it strange that we can send our NG to Iraq to fight an ongoing war against terrorism (placing them in harms way daily), but when it comes to defending our own country against possible terrorist, drug smugglers, etc. we tie their hands?

As for the NG unit we're discussing, I'm sure the odds would not have been a consideration had they been issued the order to defend our border against armed invaders. Without a doubt, they could have held the invaders at bay until reenforcements arrived (10 minutes). Americans have a long history of success when confronted with overwhelming odds!

IMO, the armed invaders were probably acting as a scouting party in search of a safe route to smuggler drugs across our border. Each time we apprehend or destroy such groups we're making it more difficult for the Mexican cartels to feed our children their poison!

Well put MW.
I don't believe anybody here likes what happened but at least none of our guys got hurt, these guys are operating under military orders and are subject to jail time if they break them. I also have no idea of the type of training these guys have, you can teach anybody how to shoot a M 16 in minutes but it takes special training to handle armed conflicts, some people get down right rattled when folks start shooting at them and if they are not trained in how to handle the situation they can be a danger to their own people or themselves or at the very least useless.
I would like to see these guys well trained and given orders to protect the border at all cost but I seriously doubt that will happen.