Small Unit Tactics for Border State Militias

The discussion over the protection of the USA borders is not just a federal government issue. It is also a state's issue and a people's issue so it is a Militia issue by definition.

The common good and the common defense are both served by the able bodied in each state defending the state from invasion from foreigners that do not use the authorized border crossings to enter into these United States for what ever reason.

Protecting these borders regions is not something the government on the Potomac can really deal with effectively and affordably. Small units of well trained militia members that are self armed, provide their own vehicles, fuel, food, water, and ammunition as well as volunteer of their time are far more cost effective of a solution for border area protection.

The cost savings is obvious. The legal issue is one that should next be addressed. For instance if no member of a militia involved in border protection is even a citizen of that border state then they can not be a legitimate defender. If the members of the border state militia do not own property in the border region then they do not have the legal cover of property rights. The right to defend your property does extend to your immediate area but is centered on your personal property.

Assuming that the militia small unit of the border states are property owners we will proceed with the tactics that can be employed by these units to effectively control the border in their area thus defending their property.

My first article in this series will cover the basics of know your opponents strengths and weaknesses. It should be posted here later today when I return from the gun show.

well I didn't know you couldn't serve in the
state militia unless you are a state resident
or own property there.

Guess that kinda puts a damper on helping
AZ.

but wait !!!!

Didn't the militia cross state boundaries
during the revolutionary war????
And also again in the Civil War???

Seems to me if it is a national invasion
it doesn't matter what state your a member of.
Your still an American.

reply to post by boondock-saint


I do not disagree with your sentiments as expressed here but I am speaking of the modern age where we have a powerful central government that does not hesitate to lock away or kill people who have the best intentions but fail to follow their rules. My analysis is that if you want to defend Arizona for instance then you have to be defending your property in order to be within the law.

I am just getting back from the gun show. Once I have eaten dinner I will post the next article in the series.

Know your opponent. Understand his motivation, his tactics, and methods. Know his strengths and weaknesses and just as important understand your own. Knowing your limitations while you know your opponent’s is key to wining in any conflict. If you have not read Sun Tzu, The Art of War then you are not likely the person to attempt these efforts at citizen border control.

The Zetas, are the primary opponent of border defenders. Know them well or rue the day you attempted this effort. The Zetas are no joke. They are composed mostly of highly trained special ops forces of Mexico and Guatemala. They are well financed with drug money and from border town prostitution. They are the primary force exploiting the United States porous Southern border region.

Their strengths are many as you can gather by reading the wiki article linked above. These include not only training as professional military combat arms experts, and financing from many years of running drugs in the region but also they have purchased influence in the region and bought off police on this side of the border.

The reason for their success is that officials on the USA side are in their pocket, not just that they are vicious thugs who will do what ever it takes to achieve their goals. They are directly involved with Mexican American political groups in the US such as La Rasa. With the corrupt law enforcement in their pocket and groups on the ground in the US watching out for them they operate with impunity along the border region.

Weaknesses. Their training is mostly in close combat, fast attack operations that terrorize and demoralize. Their personnel who manage the border crossing operations for drug couriers and undocumented workers are armed mostly with the AR-15 and AK-47 variants. These weapons have an effective range of only about 400 meters. In the desert regions a clear line of fire can be established out to 600-800 meters and so defenders can set up out of range of their light carbines.

The Zetas also believe with their arms, and with their bought and paid for police agents in the US that they are untouchable. This sounds like a strength but it is also a weakness. Police officials that take bribes are vulnerable to discovery. Armed men are easy to spot next to unarmed migrant workers.

Next post I will detail some of the equipment and tactics that I feel will be most successful in this fight.

[edit on 19-6-2010 by wayouttheredude]

Establishing your base of operations. Think fortress but make it look like it is a fairly ordinary place. You want to have at least 3 or more acres for your desert outpost. Put a trailer by the front gate and make it look lived in. Put your fortified HQ just about in the center of the property. Put up lights, Dig some 6' x 6' x 4' holes and cover them and their dirt piles as these will come in handy later on. Get your outpost a full set of comm gear. 2 meter band as well as shortwave, SSB and CB. Get a diesel generator and enough fuel for a month or more. Bury your fuel tanks. This is important.

When facing an enemy with superior force the smaller force must be highly mobile, and well supported on the ground. The defenders must have situational awareness and intelligence on their opponents movements. Just running around the area looking for a fight would likely end in disaster. The area must first be surveyed to establish some working knowledge of the terrain including the pathways that traffickers use. A good start on this would be a detailed review of the satellite images available.

From a quick review of this satellite data today it is obvious for instance that the best and most discrete ingress point from Mexico into the Coronado National Monument area is just off of the end of the West International Road. There is an arroyo with good tree line cover that leads all the way into the park and intersects the West Montezuma Canyon Road where truck or car transport can be staged for picking up the drugs or illegal alien workers.

Once some working areas such as this are established then it is time to begin your on the ground recon. Here is where at least one defender in the group being a citizen of the state comes in handy. Purchase a hunting permit. Then when you are in the area of the park carrying a long gun you are covered from a legal stand point. If someone in the group does not understand Spanish well enough to translate for you then forget this and go back to playing internet commando.

A GPS is an important tool for marking trails on your tactical maps. Getting a lay of the land is key to setting up your engagements. Once you have established yourselves in the area go to church and listen more than you talk. Share the concerns of the local people. Get them to open up to you about their problems such as people coming on their land late at night. Develop a map of incidents and use this to refine your tactical maps. You can never have to much intelligence.

Tactics. For the most part on the public lands you want to keep engagements to nothing more than harassing fire. Expensive thermal imaging sites are not necessary. Cheap and reliable trip flares will do the trick. Find a pinch point in the trail being used by the traffickers and set up your flares. Set them in brush that will bunch people up. Do not alter the look of the trail as these traffickers uses them time and again and will notice changes. Set up your ambush point at the 600-800 yard range and up hill. Once the fire begins they might try to advance to get you in range of their carbines. Keep them busy until they feel the mortal danger of continuing. The object is to harass and turn back the group without hurting unarmed innocents. Hit the ground in front and to the rear of the group leader or anyone who is armed as this will throw up rocks and shrapnel which can wound but is unlikely to kill.

For this I like steel core 7.62 x 54r rounds fired from the Mosin Nagant with a Monty Carlo stock, bipod and scope with lighted recital. The entire set up cost under $500 so if you had to ditch it in a pinch the pain would not be so terrible that you would hesitate to do so. Your fire team should be made up of at least 3 shooters and spotters. Take your time aiming carefully, shoot then move out. If you use vehicles I would suggest dirt bikes or ATVs with the tail lights out and red filters on the head lights with a beam diverter on top to maker it hard to spot from above.

Be aware that they might have their own sniper cover or over watch team. This type of harassing attack is designed not to kill people but to dissuade them and infuriate them. Never use the same ambush point twice.

Have your rear guard unit listening to the air waves. There will be a report back, which will likely be in the 2 meter band. Once your group has done this a few times the sold out law enforcement in the US will begin to ask questions to establish who the shooters are. This is when the serious stuff will begin. Now the Zetas will want to hit you back. They will get the tip off as to who you are and where you live. Then the Zetas will send in their ground forces to deal with you. The trap is then set. Now the only potential casualties will be the Zeta thugs and your small unit and the fight will be on your private property where you are fully justified in dispatching them. Once you have hit them hard and taken out their initial assault forces expect them to hit again when you are out of your strong hold.

They might even have you arrested and have you killed while in custody. For this and many other reasons after you have had one serious engagement it is time to rotate out. Let some new faces take over and in the next phase you will want to change up tactics as well as personnel.

Next post will cover additional tactics and some training ideas.


[edit on 19-6-2010 by wayouttheredude]

Dealing with the legal issues.

Militias can not operate in the state on public land without consequences. Even though the Potomac government has succeeded several counties in Arizona back to Mexico by their inaction we still do not have legal cover to operate in these public lands with impunity. While we might have supporters in the land at large the law enforcement in the region is compromised. They are in fact sold out under considerable pressure from the Zetas but sold out none the less.

That means to operate in that area your unit is not under cover of any law so you will be treated as an outlaw if you do not tread with great care no matter how noble your intentions might be. These legal issues are the reason for my tactic of using the cover of private property defense as the primary legal cover.

A lethal engagement with the Zetas must happen on your property. You must be defending your life liberty and property in order to establish a cover of legality. Running around looking for trouble would end not only in disaster, it will give homeland defenders a bad name and make the efforts of other groups that much harder.

Properties in the region already effected by these invaders might be purchased in distressed sales. The terms can even be set up so that the property can change hands with each new group of defenders. This would make the legal issues a lot easier to deal with. As boring as this legal business is it is just as important as any other tactic employed by homeland defenders.

By the way that is my new nomenclature for the militia. Homeland defender. It says something I think needs to be understood. When they try and demonize the militia patriots we should just rename them homeland defenders. This lets DHS know that we do not consider ourselves as domestic terrorists because we are in fact the core of the defense of the homeland. It might not seem important now but it will be once this stuff starts to hit the media.

Next will be a post about equipping, financing and activating this effort.

I am posting this update for the intelligence gathering value of the link. This site Borderland Beat has a whole lot of intel on the border region and the drug gangs that are exploiting our nations liberal border protection efforts.

See: Borderland Beat

The site is stuffed with videos and graphics and a lot of useful intel like citizen posted video showing motion sensor video taking clandestinely.

I wonder if these idiots know this was just a short story and not some kind of policy statement from some right wing think tank?

ww.fstdt.com...