U.S. Soldiers Are Disarmed, Held At Gunpoint By Mexican Troops In Texas
Another Skippy link via Ex; a very disturbing event that occurred on the US-Mexico border.
byTom Gantert
Mexican troops held U.S. soldiers at gunpoint.
Clint, TX – Two U.S. soldiers were held at gunpoint and disarmed by Mexican troops on American soil on April 19.
CNN reported that five to six Mexican military personnel questioned the two U.S. soldiers who were conducting border support operations.
A U.S. Northern Command statement confirmed that the U.S. soldiers were “appropriately in US territory” during the encounter, according to CNN.
The Mexican soldiers not only pointed their weapons at the U.S. troops, but also removed a soldier’s sidearm and returned it to the unmarked U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle, U.S. military officials said.
CNN reported that the Mexican troops were armed with assault rifles. U.S. officials said the U.S. soldiers allowed the weapon to be taken in an effort to de-escalate the “potential volatile situation.”
“Throughout the incident, the US soldiers followed all established procedures and protocols,” Northern Command said, according to CNN.
What in the actual fuck is going on here? “…established procedures and protocols…” need to be changed RTF now. The rest of the article may be viewed here: Blue Lives Matter
Category: Army, Border, Guest Link, International Affairs, Politics
If I’m on us soil and I’m acting as a US Soldier you will never take my sidearm without a fight maybe that’s what needs to happen
Indeed I’m not understanding how this headline doesn’t read six member of Mexican Military dead after attempting to disarm US Troops on US soil…
Or something like this:
Dam sure wasn’t a Marine who surrendered his weapon!!!!
Of course not- they’re all on the same side!
https://taskandpurpose.com/marine-veteran-cocaine-kingpin-mexico
Mexican troops on US soil? WTF is going on there? What next – a modern day “Pancho Villa” storming across the border with his army burning a town and killing citizens, then running back across the border?
Someone needs to get off their ass and start exercising some judgement/common sense ASAP before something involving gun play happens.
“Someone needs to get off their ass and start exercising some judgement/common sense ASAP before something involving gun play happens.”
I suspect this is why Kirstjen Nielsen got canned. From what I’ve read and heard, she’s been dragging her feet on the border.
There just has to be more to this story.
I’ve been trying to get more info on this and found two other stories of Mexican military
Helicopters firing on BP agents in Arizona who where give chase to two smugglers
The incident happened on the tohono reservation one 1/2 inside the US
The news outlets seem hellbent on not reporting these stories but the number of incidents has increased over the last three years
Could be posers on the Mexico side, dopers, renegade federales, I’d sure like to hear what the troops have to say about the situation.
Five on two, with similar fire power, and weapons already on point could be high risk, no matter what Chesty would have said.
That there were five on the south side could be telling. I have no idea how many personnel make up Mexican details.
What did Eric Holder know and when did he know it?
Irrespective, there seems to be a command problem that put our guys into such a juxtaposition.
A couple of Ranger companies down on the border and we woluldn’ t have Mexican military working for the cartels pulling this shit.
Roger on that
You are on the right track 🙂 send a batt.
I am just being conservative. If I had my way, I would deploy two battalions, with engagement rules the progs would not like. My ROE would be if Mexicans try to disarm you on our side of the border, dead Mexicans are an acceptable alternative to you surrendering your weapons. Also, I would be in favor of free fire zones on the border.
Yep.
I doubt we’d even need Ranger companies. Any combat arms units on the borders with realistic and necessary Rules of Engagement would be sufficient to derail this kind of bullshit from happening.
I agree and am just saying I don’t think our best would let themselves be disarmed by some half-assed Mexican military unit which was likely doing the bidding of one of the drug cartels. But after having served in a NG SF Group, I am not surprised that these ARNG guys were disarmed. But remember under Commander 0, the Mexican Army crossing our borders happened numerous times with no repercussions for them.
These two Soldiers were from 1-37 FA at Ft Lewis, so they were most likely 13 Series Soldiers (Field Artillery) and Therefore Combat Arms. Of course, sitting in an OP and guard duty are both common tasks, so any troop should be able to do it.
According to Newsweek, this particular unit has been down there since October, so they have probably become very complacent. Let’s just hope they were actually awake when this went down. This happened at 1400 Local, and in every article could find, they claimed the Mexicans moved up on them so fast they couldn’t even call for help or activate their Nano Shout emergency beacon. That sounds kind of suspicious to me.
It might seem satisfying to send a Ranger battalion, but it would be a huge mismatch of capabilities and a waste of a SOF asset. Any unit should be able to do this mission, but only a Ranger battalion can do Ranger missions. Rangers are organized, trained, and equipped for rapid, aggressive offensive action.
Finally, a firefight would have resulted in two dead Americans. The Soldiers had a single 9 mm between them, and they were essentially surprised by the Mexicans. There may have been another element that we are unaware of in an overwatch position.
If I were the battalion commander I would like to know how these guys let the Mexicans get so close without reporting anything, why there was not any sort of mutually supporting OP, and why their position didn’t offer sufficient observation of the high speed avenues of approach to give them early warning.
Military forces are ill suited for law enforcement missions. I would be interested to hear what sort of individual and collective training these units went through to prep for this, and what additional equipment we gave them.
Finally, a voice of sanity. Number one, the ROE is so restrictive they might as well not even be armed. Number two, the border is not one neat line as some of you apparently think and inadvertent cross border incursions are common on both sides. These two Soldiers we on the Mexican side of the fence though still on US soil and it is common for US and Mexican patrols to pass each other within hailing distance. Having been to the border and knowing several Border Patrol agents none of this surprises me.
First Cav at Ft Hood barely needs an 8 hour convoy to get there and should be able to get a few companies on site in a few hours via C-130 or even Blackhawks.
I see them flying over Austin a lot so they aren’t far away and could easily take a few of them with Apaches along just for good measure…
It’s like the saying of the left wing morons talking to women in a rape situation, “pee yourself so they won’t touch you”…
Take a 1911 rape whistle, or in this case an Apache and make the Mexicans piss themselves…
4th Brigade of 1st Cav is right there at Fort Bliss in El Paso just a few miles from where this event took place.
I’ve been advocating for years that we rotate combat arms units (preferably infantry or cav) from Fort Carson, Fort Bliss and Fort Hood through targeted border securing operations.
Dumbass Federales should have lost their uniforms and asked for political asylum while they had the chance.
Probably being “very well paid” by some cartel boss as “security” in their off-duty time.
What the cartels do to families of those who annoy them would make a Roman puke.
To break the cartels we must break their wealth. That is what extends their reach.
You will never break their wealth or power as long as millions of Americans have the DEMAND. Legalize drugs, and all you do is reduce their operating costs but they still make similar profits. As Pogo said, we have met the enemy and he is us.
“You will never break their wealth or power as long as millions of Americans have the DEMAND.”
Sadly, I agree.
None of that stuff is worth smuggling if legalized. Too cheap and easy to make/grow. US firms would rather quickly own the market.
Pot, for an example, is a well-cultivated… weed.
Much of the rest is about as complex to make as Aspirin.
Nobody smuggles booze except to dodge taxes.
^^^ THIS. ^^^
Why have we not reviewed the LESSONS of PROHIBITION I?!?!?!
What kind of damned loogie-brained ROE’s are they operating under? Armed Mexican Soldiers coming onto US Soil sounds like an invasion to me and IMHO the response to them needs to be swift, violent and merciless.
Over the past couple of decades there have been multiple incidents of Mexican soldiers invading us soil for one reason or another it’s just not well-publicized. I’m guessing the reason that this is so well-publicized is because it involved two US soldiers as well.
That’s correct Grunt. My question would be “What hare brained idiot constituted a lawful order that ok’d the surrender of your arms?” I’m pretty sure I could make a sound case for enforcing my “Oath” to support, protect, and defend the Constitution against all aggressor’s by taking out any “Federales” armed on US soil. Any orders to the contrary would have to be unlawful, correct?
Not necessarily.
What seems open and shut can get really weird when flag rank and high office get involved.
Were they Mexican soldiers?
Mexicans soldiers under the control of the Cartels?
Cartel members wearing Army uniforms?
All of the above?
No practical difference. You can treat most of them as interchangeable.
Failed state, impending.
And when it does fail, “migration” will be -so- inadequate…..
“Pancho met his match, you know, on the deserts down in Mexico
Nobody heard his dyin words, ah but that’s the way it goes
All the Federales say, they could’ve had him any day
They only let him slip away, out of kindness, I suppose”
Just sayin.
Play it!
South of the fence struck me as interesting. Some of you may recall the border markings between East And West Germany; if you were at the East German border marker (a painted stake and plaque) you were already well within East German territory.
My post and rail property fence is two ft. inside my lot. Good fences make good neighbors.
Sounds like it’s time for another “Punitive Expedition”… Just need a “Black Jack” Pershing to carry it out!
If I am not wrong the soldiers probably had 0 ZERO ammunition, I used to guard a secure perimeter armed with an unloaded 1911, and only foul language.
The Army and other branches are infamous for not believing their troops can be trusted with live ammo outside of range day.
Especially if the likely result is a noisy disobedience that might cause a major international incident.
I am wondering if the rules of engagement get changed now, and if those rules are effectively Patton-ish versus p0litical.
If the order is given “vigorously enforce US sovereignty against foreign incursion”, how long before Judge Dweeb issues an injunction saying ” oh no you won’t”? And then?
And flip side to my wish to see just such orders, you can bet serious coin that the ambush was in place if those soldiers had fought, and most assuredly there was one waiting on Mexican soil for any pursuit.
At which point we are at war. Which I think some folks rather much further away are be trying to arrange.
Amen. Stood duty many times with shotgun or M16 and was explicitly ordered to not load the weapons.
Vaguely recall a case of an MP clearing his firearm into one of those half barrels of sand in front of the Provost’s office at WRAMC.
There’s a reason why it’s called unexpected discharge. To my mind, it sure sounded like a conflict between one of the civilian guards and a uniformed MP.
Without ammo, what’s the fucking point?
Kinda like TSA, “security theatre”
“Halt! Or I’ll click!”
BTDT
BHWHAHAHAHA !!!!!!
I still remember in basic having to yell “charging weapon” as the first level of “force” as we challenged unknown people during our field exercise. It was hard not to roll my eyes while doing so.
Really? Wasn’t the case in the Marines in 2004. I was sent to MCAS Yuma that August, a month or so after my squadron deployed to Iraq. I had virtually nothing to do, so they sent me to PMO as a gate guard augment. I spent the next four months at the gate with a loaded Benelli shotgun. We also took turns getting sent out to the Chocolate Mountains range patrol out in California for a week, where we patrolled the bombing range for a)illegals b)scrappers looking for expended ordnance to sell as scrap metal. It was a four man team led by a sergeant, and we were all armed with live ammunition.
Huh, I was guarding an empty fucking warehouse at Fort Dix with a fully loaded M-16 and two 30 round mags in my pockets…
I never shot anyone “accidentally” and never knew anyone who got shot there…I am aware of a drunken E-4 who almost got shot by a different guard team, but that’s a different story.
Why do have ROEs on our border with a hostile nation that disarm Americans? Anyone thinking Mexico is a friend isn’t really paying attention. They weren’t our friends before NAFTA and they sure as fuck aren’t our friends now.
Basic at Dix had me guarding a fenced in area with an unloaded M-14.
It was dark and I challenged some guy that approached me. It was the DI and he said good job now wait for the bus to take you back to the barracks.
Nothing from nothing, Milo but I’ll disagree with your statement. Every secured perimeter I stood duty on, was well equipped with M16-4 mags, sidearm & 4 mags and commo (w/t) along with wearing ballistic vest or flak jacket…Oh, lest I forget, a V-100 not too far away in case. 🙂
“…a major international incident.” You think? Seems to me that every other government and group of people in the world are doing their dead level best to drag the US into a 2nd class or worse status than they have. Many are draining us be insisting we protect them from other, bigger tigers or bears, and the rest of them are pushing many of the dregs of their society over our undefended borders to drain us internally. And sadly, many of our elected officials are doing everything they can to help drag the US down.
DRAIN THE SWAMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The out gunned and out numbered US Troops prolly did the right thing for that point in time. As others have pointed out, this could have been a goading incident, or a major set up, anything to make us or dTrumpster look bad. And, too, as commented above, some of my time spent on or near the GDR/Soviet border, it was very well marked and we would sometimes walk a guard post with empty weapons.
BUILD AND PROPERLY GARRISON THE WALL!!!!!!!!!!
Why don’t these Mexican “troops” start pointing their weapons at the illegal caravan folks strolling through Mexico on the way here? What a crock….
Assuming there’s not more to the story, this sounds like either an act of war by the Mexican army, or a criminal act by assholes on cartel payroll. Either way, those Mexicans should be dead. What were those dickheads doing on US soil, anyway?
One way or another, somebody somewhere should get shot over this.
Sounds like our troops on the ground need air cover, loaded weapons, and realistic ROE..
I’ll play devil’s advocate here and say the American soldiers acquitted themselves well. They were in the right, in that they were on US soil. Depending on the ROE, which are probably restrictive, they at least would have legally been able to defend themselves against an armed foreign power on our soil.
What it sounds like happened is the Mexican soldiers got the drop on our guys. They were outnumbered and probably outgunned. They gave up their weapons instead of fighting it out and potentially starting a war. They utilized diplomacy and settled the issue without major incident.
I’d imagine, with how poorly defined our border is, that this sort of thing happens quite a bit. As much as I think our soldiers should have shot it out, I’m glad that cooler heads prevailed.
Mason wins the thread with level headed thinking and rational actions in a difficult encounter. Wish I had an answer because Mexico is supposed to be our friend, and they may take umbrage at us GPS ‘chipping’ their troops.
Just a thought…
*grin*
That’s the problem, Mexico isn’t our friend. They’ve never been our friend and they will never be our friend.
Having troops on the border more worried about shitty ROEs than they are about protecting the border is just another symptom of what’s going on today in the US of A.
Nothing good can come of carrying an unloaded weapon. It’s magnified tenfold if you’re not carrying ammunition either. Argued against it my entire career. We had Soldiers guarding our brigade areas after 9/11, empty M-16’s, no ammo. Told the CSM that all we’re gonna accomplish is weapons loss. And we did. They’d have been better off with Louisville Sluggers.
I would launch nukes and take out Mexico’s oil refineries. Screw them. I expect President Trump to go ballistic and demand, at least, an apology from the Mexican Presidente.
John W
Better yet, stop US sales of distilled petroleum products to Mexico. Guaranteed that it will really hurt them.
John W
Is there some compelling reason why we can’t take out the Cartels ala Bin Laden style?
I’ll even accept Dresden style.
No apologies to the squeamish of history.
A heartfelt thanks to the crews that did what had to be done:
Even better question is, why were two cannon cocker’s in an unmarked CBP vehicle. Incursions of Mexican troops across our southern border isn’t anything new.
Reminds me of Barney Fife: .38 caliber service revolver with ONE round….in his pocket.
Long ago there were a lot of us so called Barney Fife’s, guard duty on parameter with empty M-16 and 2-20 round Mag’s in pocket and big mobile lights showing off position. Hello Uncle HO, come right in and welcome to our base.
Consider for the moment the possibility that our guys were asleep in their vehicle.
The Mexican Soldiers or Federal Police may have done them a favor by waking them up before some desperate illegals or the Nuevo Juarez Cartel found them…
My first thought was “Isn’t the Rio Grande the border between Texas and Mexico.”
Then I read the article which states “The river in that area has brush-filled and dried-out riverbed which makes it “very easy” for people to be confused as to what side of the border they are on.”
Call me kooky, but even if it was a dried out riverbed, then wouldn’t it still be obvious that being a riverbed and being near the border fence, that it’s the fucking border???
You are kooky.
The Rio Grande cuts through a very arid part of the country (by The Cou try, I mean the US and Mexico). Flash floods are common- Know you think you know what that means, but you really don’t until you’ve experienced one down ther.
The Rio Grande literally changes its course when there is a heavy rainfall- it creates what is called oxbow lakes. It was sort of a joke that after a heavy rain cowboys and their herd would wake up in Mexico.
Don’t stop the shoplifter, shelter in place, all violence is wrong! Kumbaya– we’re so virtuous!
Sounds to me like Mexico was probably confused about where they were, a conversation was had, Mexico realized their mistake, and everybody went home that night. Great.
I wonder if a $50 suction-cup GPS could have prevented this (or even caused this), but I’m somewhat happy that Mexico is also defending our border. Reading past the headline, this doesn’t seem like much more than a mistake. Or maybe I’m still naive in places.
Mistakes are commonly made on both side
The area where it gets crazy is were our people have been fired on
Those incidents seen to be on the uptick most from what I’ve read and seen
Involved dirty Mexican troops or cartels posing as Mexican troops
Why are these repeated confrontations always occurring between elements of the Mexican Army and the American Army?
I haven’t heard of any Mexican soldiers or Mexican drug cartels ever confronting the independent armed militias which patrol along the Border.