Border Security: Army Deploys Combat Vehicles to West Texas
Stryker crews assisting Border Patrol
500 US Army troops equipped with Stryker armored combat vehicles are being deployed to a remote West Texas stretch of the Southern Border with Mexico known to many as the "Big Bend."
Their arrival was welcomed by the leader of the 540 Border Patrol Agents assigned to the 165,154 square mile "Big Bend Sector," which is responsible for patrolling 517 miles of the Rio Grande.
"Stryker Deployed! Great to have (Department of Defense) boots on the ground alongside (US Border Patrol) Big Bend Sector agents! Their support in this rugged terrain is a game-changer for border security & operations." -Lloyd M. Easterling, Chief Patrol Agent, US Border Patrol Big Bend Sector
The deployment is not without controversy among the local residents. Most are familiar with the May 20, 1997, killing of a teenager by a US Marine assigned to a Federal Anti-Drug Operation in the Big Bend. Esequiel Hernandez Jr. was tending his family's goat herd when the shooting occurred.
One resident told The Big Bend Times, “We have felt perfectly fine without military presence. Border Patrol does their job. I don’t know what other agenda is going on, but it’s not like these people are rushing over with guns and knives to warrant tanks and a military presence.”
But for those local Border Patrol Agents - stretched thin to cover the agency's largest - and most remote - sector, the troops' arrival is a welcomed game-changer:
Do you support assigning US Army combat vehicles to the US Southern Border?
Share your opinion in the comments on this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Always thankyou Jack 🙏🙏🙏
Its the drones, again. Stryker has great communications and drone tracking gear. Just like the two Navy destroyers on the coasts, Stryker patrols will help manage both surface and air penetration attempts, and make a hard target, besides.
What would be really interesting would be to learn the Army's rules of engagement.