Over the past fifteen years, there's been two deployments of US troops along the US and Mexico border. For the most part....neither achieved anything but headlines.
The Bush deployment involved 6,000 national guard troops.
The Obama deployment in 2010? It involved around 1,500 troops....mostly to collect data and use new recon assets.
Why the failure?
I tend to view the lack of number to the overall success expected. In my view, the 1,954 miles would probably require a minimum of 35,000 to 45,000 troops to maintain an around-the-clock presence. This would mean at least six different installations along the border, and a hefty amount of recon usage. And no...I'm not talking about temporary headline gimmicks like 10,000 National Guard troops for four months.
My suggestion would be that you go and offer up a new service to the US military....'Guard Patrol'. Offer a chance to the Army and Air Force members to cross over, and assign a full-time job to around 35,000 active duty personnel....with only one single function....guarding the border.
Treating this as a temp deal and repeating the Bush/Obama failures? Well....yeah, there's pretty good odds that this is a another screw-up in the making.
