Posted on 03/01/2018 1:20:20 AM PST by BeauBo
Tell you a true story. Spent 11 years chasing illegals in S Texas with different groups. One of my buds and I were on a 20+ thousand acre ranch that we had not be on in almost 4 months when we ran across these signs on fence posts pointing with wording in 4 different languages, saying Follow arrows for help. So we cruised on over there on our 4wheelers. Low and behold there was this behemoth of a beacon device out of 6' square tubing with blue beacon and transponder on top, battery powered solar panels, the whole nine yards. On the control panel in the four languages was a mushroom push button. PUSH FOR HELP. Well we were pissed. We drove around this thing then headed off to some tall dunes to setup shop.
About 45 minutes here come BP in vehicle and we recognized the two boots, flag them down and start talking. Sure enough they were responding to the beacon. Damn thing had ground sensors. Come to find out from them that the material for these WAS supposed to build the fence back when the first bill passed and the fence was supposed to be being built but instead they were building these sensors.
Now do you think all of that 3.5M/mi is building fences?
Kelly will never allow troops to protect the border. Trump floated it and Kelly immediately shot it down. Don’t get excited this is replacing existing wall not one inch of new wall. NM is about gone focus on AZ and Texas while there’s still time.
These barriers need to be built like they are guarding Americans from rabid dogs and man-eating tigers, which they are!
Yeah, one president will use force at the border and the next one won’t. With a wall, it is an obstacle that will be there for the next president.
I don’t do ‘Social Media’. IF Trump Ever starts a “Go Fund Me’ page to build the wall, please let me know.
IF any state in the USA would put out to the public the ACTUAL costs of having these illegals in this country, the cost of the wall discussion would disappear like smoke.
The cost of keeping them out is far less than just the cost of the free benefits they all get.
“It would cost a lot less to train the military on the border and keep them primed for a southern invasion.”
Each approach has is pros and cons.
The kind of barrier they are looking to build now (30 foot tall bollards) costs a lot the year you put it in, but very little after that. Using more people, has costs far into the future, including retirement and disability payments.
Military units are budgeted into the various operational plans that the Pentagon develops. For example, if a land war breaks out in Korea, specific units, by name, are designated specific roles. If you want to task that unit with something else (like moving to the border, and assuming a guard mission), then you have to explicitly plan and resource to replace them, or backfill them with another limited resource when they do deploy.
Every year, during the budget drill, the Iron Majors in the Pentagon burn the midnight oil on endless “what if” drills, juggling the many variables to allocate resources. There is no free lunch - units that are not operationally justified (essential) have long since been squeezed out of existence.
It is in fact very expensive to develop and maintain military units, and it lessens their proficiency/combat effectiveness if you have them doing different missions (like border guard) for a long time.
In the short term, an active duty military unit can quickly bring a lot of capability to bear, but if it is going to be long term, you have to deliberately develop dedicated force structure to support the mission. Border Patrol is specialized in their task, without the competing pull of a combat mission. They are inherently better suited in that respect.
If we did pay the premium to develop active duty military units for border guard, there would be the added benefit of having their broader capability to potentially use them temporarily for other contingencies, like natural disasters, civil unrest or reinforcing a major war.
Bottom line: There is no free lunch, to use military units for border security long term. When you add all the lifecycle costs, they are actually quite expensive, per person.
Bollard style barrier on the other hand, is cheap to maintain, and allows the Border Patrol to channel the threat and concentrate their personnel, making them able to be more effective per person. Lots of people are tempted to hop the fence, because it looks (is) so easy. Eighteen foot bollards effectively deterred a great percentage of crossers where they were installed. Thirty foot bollards will deter all but the most fit and daring - almost everyone.
In the end, the most efficient use of resources to effectively control the border is a mix of personnel, equipment, technology, and infrastructure (barrier, roads, lighting and sensors).
Another option to reinforce the Border Patrol, could be the use of civilian contractors, like security guards as lookouts, or one of those companies that monitor home security systems - the kinds of support services that don’t require carrying a gun or laying hands on prisoners.
Git r done!
“Will the workers be sympatico with immigrants and do a shittey job?”
The companies that are awarded these contracts were pre-screened, based on their proven past performance on similar efforts, and their financial strength (among many other factors).
Those companies are bound by the contract specifications, and there is a formal inspection/acceptance process for them to deliver the final product, and receive final payment.
No process is perfect, if humans are involved, but experienced professionals (US Army Corps of Engineers) are managing this contracting process. They have effectively produced border barrier before.
The bigger variables are likely the strength of the specifications they receive, and the amount of money dedicated to the effort.
Good news!
“Barnard construction is one of the best”
Excellent performance on this task could position Barnard to get all the work they can bear, if/when the money comes through in the Federal budget.
Woo hoo!!!!
Build that wall!
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs :-)
And, with the newly imposed tariffs - 25% for steel and 10% for aluminum - Mexico (and Canada) WILL essentially be paying for the wall. Bwahahaha.
They are both using NAFTA to send cheap steel, etc, to the USA via Mexico and Canada.
I know the claim is that border patrol workers want fencing (not a wall!) that they can see through, but those ballards just look so easily climbable with a little of the right equipment.
I trust the judgment of the Israelis on these things better, and even at that—this wall isn’t enough:
http://www.vocativ.com/398444/border-wall-israel-trump/index.html
Are we sure border patrol just doesn’t want to kill its job? I want 50-foot high, smooth, double walls—with room for border patrol or our military to cruise with their vehicles and advanced detection equipment right down the middle.
“this is replacing existing wall not one inch of new wall.”
This segment of that sector was selected because that is where the problem is the worst, where infrastructure could address it. Loads of crossers and drugs can (and do) just walk across.
If you zoom in on Google maps, you can see that the existing personnel barrier ends a couple of hundred yards from the parking lot of a big Foxconn maquiladora (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/26.9590776,-99.3889602/27.6521834,-99.633406/@31.7834188,-106.6978558,143m/data=!3m1!1e3). After that, it is vehicle barrier, which is wide open to people on foot - just about a five mile stroll into the El Paso suburbs.
It doesn’t just look bad from a security point of view - it has been proven bad in practice. It is deliberately being placed to staunch a heavy flow. These big bollards seriously deter pedestrians.
The plan for Trump’s wall is divided into three phases, prioritized by where it will have the most impact first. This segment rose into top 150 or so miles, which constitutes Phase One (the rest is San Diego, but mostly in the Rio Grande Valley of Southern Texas).
“All vendors have to be bonded, in case they fail to perform.”
That’s right. A buddy of mine who works with the state govt who is used to tendering applications always makes sure of it, even his workers. At first he had to go to a 3rd party because of ridiculous paperwork involved but learned they could do it themselves if they planned ahead. He’s now doing the same thing in the private sector with less hassle.
I agree with that. I think that tree/pole climbing harnesses could be used by drug mules (average folks would be less likely to risk it), and handed back through the gap. I'd like to see it with the barrel tops we saw in the prototypes. I guess they could just add them later, if they see a problem in practice.
It sounds like you’re in the know—could you describe phases two and three for us?
For us to build the same mileage of walls as Israel has, population to population, we would have approximately 20,000 miles of walls. And the Israelis also are building underground walls in the areas where they are deemed necessary.
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