[SPEMack618]

A newer guy in my squad called me about thirty minutes after the Boston attacks made the new. He asked, "Sergeant are we going to do anything?"

After getting over the still odd feeling of being called Sergeant (most of the guys in my squad call me Mack) I asked him to think critically a moment.

As an Armored Cavalry unit, what exactly could we do? He sheepishly said "oh". I told him that when I got the word, he'd get it to. And we bid farewell.

The U.S. military, particulary the Army is a hammer. A really well designed, modern, all steel with rubber shock absorbing handle, but still a hammer. When you use a hammer, there had best be a nail to hit.

If the Guard were to deploy to the border, it had better be because of an imminent attack by elements of the Mexican Army. The Army is not designed to stop smugglers, nor is it designed to deploy for long periods of time without a clear purpose. The 38th parallel and the old West German border served an example of what the Army is suppose to do in regards to border security. And note that North Korea still manages to inflitrate teams of commandoes into South Korea from time to time.

Further more, it would be a logistical nightmare if ground forces were deployed to the Mexican border. Like upwards of millions of dollars a day to keep a force large enough to secure the whole border.

No, the Guard does just fine in it's current mission of disaster relief and small scale martial law.