Apropos of my earlier article about invading Mexico (above) I was talking with a friend recently. He was saying that in the early 2000s, the Tucson Border Patrol station was encountering Mexican military personnel on our side of the border about once a month. (See SALUTE-ing Mexico's Proliferating Military Incursions, VDARE.com, January 31, 2004.) No one kidded themselves that this was unrelated to narcotics smuggling. According to him, often the Agents simply drove the M&Ms, as we called the Mexican military types, back to the border without processing them and let them go. Sometimes, the M&Ms were armed and the Agents would actually return the firearms to them once they were on the other side.
Now, some background. I’m not sure if it’s still the case, but the Tucson Border Patrol station used to be on an Air Force Base—Davis Monthan. My friend told how you could be out in the desert and watch a practice dogfight going on overhead between fighter jets. He said he was down in a valley once when (believed to be) an F-16 came overhead chased by another. Apparently, you can hear the air from the jet for a split second before the ensuing sonic boom comes smashing over your head. He said it was about the loudest sound he’s ever heard and that’s with a lifetime spent around firearms. It was fun to watch the dogfights from a distance, but not up close.
So, one day, our Agents were trying to monitor radio traffic on the south side of the border. It seems the chatter was about a dope load that had become stuck in the sand. Our Agents were searching around trying to find it. When they found it, it was a stolen white pickup truck that had become high centered on some rocks and wood straddling the border. The driver had tried to cross at night and not been able to see what he was driving on. The ass end of the vehicle was in Mexico and the front side was in the United States. The Mexican military was there on the other side with a Humvee waiting to tow it away. The Agents were at a little distance prepared to tow it into the U.S. It was a Mexican standoff with both sides trading some heartfelt insults. The Mexicans didn’t actually point their weapons at our Agents, but they had their hands on them. It was a tense situation.
As this was unfolding, two A10 Warthogs came flying by. Since they were always training in the area, no one gave it much notice at first. But then the Warthogs made a big circle and came back at almost tree-top level. It looked like the planes were gearing up for a run.
This is what a Warthog looks like in action:
At that point, the Mexican military decided that the better part of valor would be to get the hell out of the pueblo, and left the area.
There was always some speculation as to whether the Air Force was monitoring the Border Patrol communications. My friend told me that he ran into some of the Warthog pilots later on and asked them about it. No one seemed to know anything about it. Maybe those pilots were just curious as to what was happening there, but they may have saved some lives that day.
