Posted on 10/24/2005 7:06:05 PM PDT by Americanwolfsbrother
We just got back last night after 5 days on the Arizona-Mexico border with the Minuteman Project. What follows is a recap of the experience and my observations. Please understand I am being purposefully vague on some details as there is still Minutemen on the line.
Tuesday 10/18 Day 1 – Arrived at base camp in Palominos around 1pm and met with Will Marriott for orientation and vetting. Process includes a background check, explanation of the Minuteman SOPs, and vetting of your beliefs and reasons for volunteering. We finished this process just in time for the 2:30pm briefing for that night. For the evening we had a small group of volunteers and it was decided we would work the highway which is about 3 miles in from the border. We rolled out to our assigned positions (Americanwolf was placed with one experienced Minuteman and I was placed with another one) around 3pm and were in place watching around 4:30pm. This gave us about an hour and a half of sun light to study our area for tracks, recon the terrain we would be watching and find the location we were going to station ourselves in. The October muster differed from the April one in that for October we were working in stealth mode, trying to catch the illegals in the process of crossing, while in April it was more of a show of force. After finding where we were going to watch from my partner Bernie and I hunkered down and started watching and waiting. As the sun went down we donned our warm clothes (Highs for the days were in the 80’s and lows at night in the 40’s). We stood watch until 11pm and the broke for the night tired and cold. The night was quite where we were but we did learn the Border Patrol did apprehend approximately 70 illegals just outside the camping area of base camp around 12:30am.
Wednesday 10/19 Day 2 – AW and I arrived in base camp around 10am and after breakfast at the Palominos Trading Post Diner (who graciously donated the land and electricity for base camp) we mingled and met and talked with some of the other Minutemen volunteers. At 2pm we met for the nights briefing. We had a few more MM and it was decided we would work the “Naco line” right on the border. AW and I were paired together on post 0, the far west post. From our post we could see down the entire line and watched several vehicles pull up and drop people off on the Mexico side. Again it was a cold evening with a wind blowing from the WNW and unfortunately we did not see anyone cross while we were on post. Finally around 11pm we broke the line and called it a night.
Thursday 10/20 Day 3 – Again arrived at base camp around 10am and met a few new MM volunteers and talked with a few more that we hadn’t had a chance to speak with before. Chris Simcox arrived at base camp around 12:30pm with his media horde in tow and gave us an update on the happening in Texas, New Mexico, and California. It was determined we would work the Naco line again. AW and I were assigned to a post at the other end of the line at a crossing point called “Old Faithful” by the Border Patrol. With permission from the line leader we broke with standard practices and parked our truck about 200 yards away and hiked into our post. This was done with the intent to try and deceive any coyotes who would be looking for vehicles. We found our hiding hole (no chairs for us!) and hunkered down for the night. About a half hour after dark we saw our first action when a white van came barreling down the road from the East with all lights out and driving much to fast for the dirt road they were on. We were in the process of calling this in as a possible smuggler when a Cochise County Sheriff came chasing after him. Never did hear if the Sheriff caught the van, but I have a hard time imaging he didn’t as he was flying just as fast as the smuggler and he had assistance! We had just settled back into to resume our watch when AW heard voices from across the way in Mexico. We spent the next 4 hours watching and waiting but were never able to get a visual on them. Finally about 10:30pm just when we were getting bored another white van came barreling down the road from the East. I had just contacted the line leader to let them know we might have another smuggler when a Sheriff’s truck and a Border Patrol truck came chasing after him! Finally a little after 11pm we broke the line for the night, and we told the Border Patrol officer that came through that we heard voices but didn’t see anyone. We learned 2 days later that about an hour and a half after we left a rancher hunting on the land just North of us ran into 10 illegals and called Border Patrol, who picked up the illegals waiting on the side of the highway!
Friday 10/21 Day 4 – Went into Sierra Vista in the morning to restock and were greeted with thanks everywhere we went. The folks who have to live with the illegal activity day in and day out really appreciate the efforts of the MM; as one fellow told AW since the April event he has been able to sleep through the night without his dogs barking every couple of hours, something he was not able to do for the last couple of years because of the illegal activity through his property. For the afternoon we lined the highway into Sierra Vista for about 4 miles, more for P.R. then actual watching. 90% of the cars that passed by waved or honked their horns (including about half the cars we noticed with Mexican license plates!); the other 10% either didn’t wave or used one finger instead of the entire hand. For the evening it was back to the Naco line. This time we saw 4 illegals at “Old Faithful” right away. Thus began the waiting game. 5 hours later we called it a night and the illegals were still waiting. Border Patrol came through as we were leaving and we again informed them that they had people waiting to cross. Border Patrol figured with it being a Friday night the line would be busy and they had a special ops group ready. They made a big deal of sweeping through behind us and then left so the special ops group could do their thing (little did we know but AW and myself had had 3 BP sitting in the field about 100 yards behind us the entire night!).
Saturday 10/22 Day 5 - Last day for us and just as we were getting ready for the daily briefing our replacements showed up in the form of Free Republics own Grayeagle and his wife. Since Mr. and Mrs. Grayeagle were new to the process this time it was decided they would sit our post with us with them at their truck and AW and myself in our hiding hole. Before it even got dark we spotted illegals lining up on the Mexico side. Mrs. Grayeagle got a count of 11, but we are sure there were more. Shortly after dark Grayeagle spotted 2 illegals crossing just west of our position and called it in. BP was there in about 10 minutes (they were delayed because they were detaining another group further East). They searched where Grayeagle saw the crossing and headed further North to track them. Around 11pm Grayeagle and the Mrs. called it a night along with about half of the line. AW and I along with another dozen MM stayed in place hoping to catch some crossers. Finally a little after 1am we called it a night without a spotted crossing, though dogs barking and BP activity north of the line told us that someone had probably made it through.
We stopped at base camp on Sunday morning on our way out and found out that for the week BP had caught 714 crossers around the Naco Line. The MM either forced the illegals East and West of where we were, or forced them to wait until we cleared out to try and cross. BP set up on either end of our line and made sweeps through when we left and it worked! That’s 714 people caught in a 7 day period in just a 2 -3 mile area!
This is an all volunteer group. The leadership for our sector basically put their lives on hold for a month to coordinate and run this muster. Volunteers came from as far away as New Jersey, Virginia, and Oregon on their own dime. There were times of confusion and we did have one incident with a group from Utah that was asked to leave when they would not conform to the SOPs. But again it is an all volunteer group and the vast majority simply wanted to do something to stem the tide of illegal immigration into this country. You learn to “roll with the flow” and enjoy the company of those you are serving with. All this garbage in the papers about racists or “want to be Rambos” staffing the MM is just that – garbage. The Border Patrol officers and Sheriff Deputies we spoke with were very supportive and thanked us every time. The considered every report we gave them as legitimate and really appreciated the help. It’s too bad their superiors aren’t of the same feeling. These guys know that we are not out there to be “cowboys” but are really just trying to help them out. BP has a thankless job and they do it with absolute professionalism. Can’t say enough good things about the rank and file Border Patrol!
The MM in Palominos came from 10 states as well as Arizona. We ranged from a low of about 12 MM on Tuesday night to a high of 27 MM on Friday night. Remember Arizona had 3 other sectors running this month and the emphasis for October was on Texas and New Mexico, so those aren’t bad numbers and we were effective. Ages ranged from early 30’s to mid 80’s (a World War II vet with a prosthetic leg and his wife who sat the entire shift with the rest of us!). We had retired military, executives, college administrators, teachers, and journeymen. We also had several MM like AW and me who had simply taken time off of work to help out. The common bond was we all love America and wanted to preserve it for our children or grandchildren.
If anyone has questions please feel free to Freepmail me. If you would like to find out more information about the Minuteman Project or make a donation you can go to: . Again no one is paid for working on the Minuteman Project. The best we got was free coffee! Any funds collected are used for admin costs and to purchase equipment (radios etc).Thanks for reading and God Bless America.
Ping
Thank you so much for the ping - can't wait to go read!
Excellent report, AWB. I'm thinking you nailed a very important aspect of the MMP...they (you) are volunteers and regular people...the silent majority who've finally gotten fed up at being silent.
I think it's great that Jim has a media horde in tow. What has happened with that is that the administration has been shamed on the world stage, and as much as I regret that having to happen, it's what was needed to get them off the dime on the illegal alien issue.
God Bless you and your brother, and God Bless the line dogs of the BP who are out there day in and day out trying to protect our borders.
Minutemen in Arizona account from one of our own brave men!
The Minutemen have done more for border awareness and security in the past 6 months than politicians and law enforcement has done in the past 16 years.
Thanks for your service!
bump for later read; thanks, BQ.
Chris Simcox rallying the troops!
(note the Cameraman to the far left of the pic is from telemundo)
Base Camp...Its very basic as AWB pointed out..That is the com trailer
Camp Tom Tancredo name for one of the few politicians that has the political will to support the Minutemen.
AWB heading back to the truck after the briefing for that nights ops.
Muster for line watch for that night.
Another view of the muster.. this was on Wednesday night.
On of the Camerawomen from the documentary film crew that had come in with Chris Simcox.
Minuteman bump
That right there is why we have so many people in America who want secure borders, yessir we all love America and want to preserve it for our children or grandchildren.
No, the dang dollar doesn't come first in our lives or sense of values, here's proof ->->-> "AW and me who had simply taken time off of work to help out."
It is not difficult these days to locate government malfeasance, just open your eyes.
Thank you, Minutemen!
Base camp photo
sorry about the multiple posts all, but the first three pics did not come out and I really wanted to make sure that they were seen as well.
Great report. Thanks for your service. Thanks for the ping, HiJinx.
HOO!!
You guys, The USBP, and the rest of the MM are awesome!
We owe you so much thanks!
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