Border guards

Some quarters/precincts/websites/ pointy-headed opinion writers are going to criticize Gov. Sarah Sanders no matter what she does. But they are strangely quiet about the National Guardsmen being sent from these latitudes to Texas. Maybe it’s because there’s really no reason for criticism.

Gov. Sanders announced this week that she’s sending 40 Guardsmen from Arkansas to help at the U.S.-Mexico border, largely because the federal government—which really should be running the show at every border—isn’t doing its job. Other states have sent their own Guardsmen. And as the paper reported, Governor Sanders isn’t the first Arkansas governor to do this. It’s almost become tradition.

According to the paper, our troops will “assist the Texas National Guard’s surveillance and reconnaissance abilities and provide increased detection and tracking capabilities.” So call it a recon mission.

This is what National Guardsmen do. Like all military outfits, they 1. go to war, and 2. train to go to war. But the Guard also has a peacetime mission. It all boils down to: Guardsmen help.

They rescue people during floods. They deliver meals after tornadoes. They can even be sent to other states to help support border control.

This is good training for these dozens of troops. There is a real military need for recon experience in units— not to mention training on recon abilities and equipment. Surveillance, tracking and recon are valuable tools to have. Thus this is valuable experience for the troops.

And lest we forget, it wouldn’t be necessary if the feds took border control seriously.