Thread: TENNESSEE GUARDSMEN TO BE HONORED FOR RUNNING AWAY !

Tenn. Guardsmen To Be Honored After Border Incident


Last Edited: Sunday, 21 Jan 2007, 4:22 PM CST
Created: Sunday, 21 Jan 2007, 4:22 PM CST

Tennessee National Guard Continuing Coverage


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Nashville, Tenn. (WHBQ Wire Services) -- The Tennessee National Guard will honor four of its men for properly handling a tense situation while patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border earlier this month, a Guard spokesman said.

The troops were approached by a group of six to eight armed men while on patrol on Jan. 3 and withdrew without confrontation, according to a military report.

"The soldiers did exactly what their mission was, to pull back if they're approached by armed personnel coming across the border," Tennessee National Guard spokesman Randy Harris said Saturday.

One armed man with the unidentified group came as close as 10 meters, the report said.

"They were to pull back, contact the border patrol and the border patrol would come and make the needed apprehension or investigate the situation," Harris said. "The Tennessee National Guardsmen are not there as law enforcement."

The ceremony honoring the four Guardsmen is expected to take place later this week and Tennessee National Guard Adjutant Gen. Gus Hargett is likely to attend, Harris said. They will be presented with either an Army commendation or achievement medal.

About 250 guardsmen next month will begin the third deployment of Tennessee troops for President Bush's Operation Jump Start to reinforce U.S. Border Patrol agents.

About 180 Tennessee Guard soldiers are now stationed at the border after volunteering to stay there for between six months and a year.

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http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/myfox/pages ... geId=3.2.1


Information from: The Tennessean

So now we give special honor for people who do their job? An award to four guards because they did the job they were sent to do? What kind of propaganda is this?

Marci wrote on January 21, 2007 5:15 PM:"Can someone please explain to me why the National Guard are on the border in the first place. They are doing exactly what the MM do at the border, (watch and report). If they are not allowed to protect our Country,then why waste tax payers money? The MM will do the exact same job, with no expense to the tax payer. I think it is outrageous that the NG has to retreat when threatened by enemy combatants "REAL MORAL BOOSTER"!!!"

TENNESSEE GUARDSMEN TO BE HONORED FOR RUNNING AWAY ! wrote on January 21, 2007 5:41 PM:"I am not making this up! The The Tennessee National Guard will give out awards to the four soldiers who ran away when confronted by armed aggressors illegally crossing our Southern Border. There is so much politics now that you have to be careful where you step. What ever happened to protecting and defending our country from foreign aggression?"

Skip wrote on January 21, 2007 5:43 PM:"The troops were approached by a group of six to eight armed men while on patrol on Jan. 3 and withdrew without confrontation, according to a military report. "The soldiers did exactly what their mission was, to pull back if they're approached by armed personnel coming across the border," Tennessee National Guard spokesman Randy Harris said Saturday."

Just When You Think ...... wrote on January 21, 2007 5:47 PM:"How upside down is this? >>> The ceremony honoring the four Guardsmen is expected to take place later this week and Tennessee National Guard Adjutant Gen. Gus Hargett is likely to attend, Harris said. They will be presented with either an Army commendation or achievement medal. NOW WE ARE GIVING OUR SOLDIERS MEDALS FOR RUNNING AWAY!"

If You Think This Story Is Crazy ...... wrote on January 21, 2007 6:02 PM:"PHOENIX — A proposed new law would make felons out of members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps — and probably some neighborhood watch groups. HB 2286 would make it a crime for any individual or group not affiliated with law enforcement to patrol "to detect alleged illegal activity" if armed. Violators would be subject to up to 18 months in state prison. The proposal by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, does not name names. But she said it is specifically aimed at the Minuteman organization "and other vigilante groups" that patrol the border looking for those entering the country illegally."

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01 ... _20_07.txt

The soldiers did exactly what their mission was, to pull back if they're approached by armed personnel coming across the border,

This is some great strategy. What of there were terrorists coming across with weapons or a suitcase nuke? What if there were an actual invading army coming across? Do they still run away and let them waltz right over to kill Americans? Thanks Mr. Bush, for your wonderful military 'strategery'.

Oddness abounds in border incident

Laurie Roberts
Republic columnist
Jan. 13, 2007 12:00 AM

For a week, the blogosphere has been abuzz over last week's border standoff.

"Invasion of America - National Guard flees," one blog reported. "Armed Mexicans attack unarmed National Guard troops on US soil," said another, leading me to conclude that the mainstream media has nothing to fear in the way of competition from these guys.

By Wednesday, the hysteria was such that Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, miles off of his turf, was calling for an investigation and Republican Rep. Warde Nichols was vowing to haul the head of the Arizona National Guard before his committee. advertisement

So what went on at that border outpost near Sasabe the night of Jan. 3? Here, based on interviews and reports from the National Guard and Customs and Border Protection, is what I can piece together:

Six to eight men wearing body armor and carrying automatic weapons crossed the border and four of them approached an observation point manned by four Tennessee guardsmen. The gunmen, in military dress, split in two to surround the post, with one coming within 20 yards. The guardsmen, armed with loaded M-16s, slowly backed away to avoid a confrontation.

They then got into their Humvee and drove about 200 yards away while alerting the Border Patrol, which arrived within minutes. By that time, the gunmen had fled back across the border. Neither group pointed their weapons at each other. No shots were fired.

On any given day, there are up to 2,400 guard troops on Arizona's border, there to play a support role to the Border Patrol until new agents can be trained and put into place.

Major Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona Guard, told me the guardsmen acted appropriately and would have been authorized to shoot, had they felt threatened. "We don't apprehend, we don't arrest, we don't detain," he said. "We're in support of the Border Patrol. Our primary job at these EIT (Entry Identification Team) sites is to call the Border Patrol and they respond."

Aguirre told me it's not unusual for armed men to cross the border. "That happens on a daily basis," he said. What is unusual, according to both Aguirre and Mario Martinez, spokesman for the Border Patrol, is for them to come so close to our guys.

The National Guard has hailed the incident as "a triumph of the training, discipline and professionalism" of the guardsmen. Conservative Republicans have called it an embarrassment.

"If their purpose is to run, then let's re-evaluate and ask ourselves why they're even there," said Nichols, who has asked the commander of the Arizona Guard to appear before his Homeland Security and Property Rights Committee.

Jeanine L'Ecuyer, spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Napolitano, dismisses Nichols' comments as politics. She said Nichols et al have long known the Guard was there in a backup role. They're not trained to enforce immigration laws, she said, and can't legally act as law enforcement agents.

"This sudden 'Oh my God' on the part of legislators is pretty disingenuous," she said.

I don't know. I have a bit of an 'Oh my God' reaction as well. I understand that the Guard is not there to enforce the law, given the mission agreed to by the feds and border governors. I understand concerns about militarizing the border.

As Aguirre said, "We are not at war with Mexico. They're our friends."

That's true. But it seems some of our friends are armed with automatic weapons and coming into Arizona, apparently on a daily basis.

Does it seem odd that we would send in the National Guard with orders not to stop them?



Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8635. Read her blog at robertsblog.azcentral.com.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... s0113.html

This kind of news must be giving ACLU, La Raza et, quit a sense of acomplishment, It makes me feel embarassed for our country and our national guard. Would it make you proud to be enlisted in the national guard, what must the world be thinking of Americans? does the word cowards come to mind, just remember they are doing as our presidents wants them to do. It is his fault we look as we do to the rest of the world.

I'm totally confused because it's been my experience that such awards are giving for performing above and beyond the call of duty. What did these folks do that was above and beyond their call to duty?

Originally Posted by MW

I'm totally confused because it's been my experience that such awards are giving for performing above and beyond the call of duty. What did these folks do that was above and beyond their call to duty?

I figured they are getting the awards because their lives were in great danger and they used an incredible amount of restraint in not blasting the hell out of armed aggressors. I do not blame the Guardsman as they are following orders. If I had been there I believe I would be shooting first and asking questions later. The very least I would do, would be to try to detain them for further questioning.

Could you imagine the field day we would have if there was a shooting conflict on the border and people started getting hurt or killed. That would be bigger then the Iraq War.

I honestly believe that in Mexico, that there is an unwritten law that forbids any drug dealer, illegal immigrant, coyote, gang member, and whoever else, from killing a Border Patrol officer, U.S. Soldier, Policeman, or any other Uniformed Citizen. Yes I know that it has happened before, but it is not just luck that there are not more fatalities then we now have. Everyone in Mexico knows that killings of American Citizens will once again wake up our country and the Border will be permanently closed.

At least that is what is supposed to happen.


R/ Skip

Everything happening on both sides of the border is really bizarre lately:
New President in Mexico.
President's relative getting murdered.
Americans getting kidnapped.
People getting beheaded in Mexico, even in the resort areas.
Big crackdown on drug cartels.
Taking Mexican police officer's guns away.
Mexican military threatening our National Guard.
National Guard retreating.
Mexico handing drug cartels over to US.
BP Agents sent to prison.
Drug runner set free(?)
Drug runner suing for 5 million!
Minutemen treated as criminals.
NG getting undeserved awards.
Government officials refusing to allow illegal immigration conference because it costs too much to pay for security.
What next?

Could you imagine the field day we would have if there was a shooting conflict on the border and people started getting hurt or killed. That would be bigger then the Iraq War.

I believe that day is coming very soon.