Well, not free, but on the cheap.
The southern border hasn’t been in the news much anymore, the headlines have moved on to other disasters. But the recent, poorly worded remarks by Donald Trump have caused it to surface again. There’s some truth to what he said, he just said it very, very badly. It made me pull up and finish this article I started a ways back.
People who think you can’t secure a country’s border with barriers and a guard force need to google “East Germany” or “German Democratic Republic”. Unfortunately, the cost of securing the border helped drive the country into bankruptcy. But there is a way we could secure our southern border at a fraction of the projected cost.
Built into every year’s Defense Department’s budget is funding for 24 Inactive Duty Training days (IDT) and a 16 day Annual Training (AT) Period for all Military Reserve Component Units. These days can be combined in various combinations for up to a 40 day long training period.
The Army Reserve and Army National Guard have many Engineer units that could be used to build a border barrier. I believe the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard also have Engineer units. The Naval Reserve has Reserve Seabee units. The Army National Guard and Army Reserve both have Engineer Brigade Headquarters units conveniently located in Texas that could be used to oversee the operation.
Reserve Engineer units could spend 30 days on the border constructing barriers: fences, walls, etc. At the end of their 30 days, they hand the mission over to the next unit, just like they are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq after a 12 month deployment. Construction equipment would be pre-positioned and passed on to the incoming unit. The incoming unit would only need to bring personnel and individual equipment.
To supplement transportation needs to and from the border area, units located far from the border (Maine, Vermont, etc) could be transported by Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units that fly transport aircraft like C-130’s. This would be training for the aircraft crews and the money is already there for training flights.
Any Combat Engineer knows that an obstacle not over-watched by troops can be easily breached and overcome. In order for a border barrier fence to work, it must be patrolled by troops on the ground. As the engineers build the fence, they will build observation posts (OP) that overlook the border. They will also build small base camps along the border and a road network connecting the OP’s and camps. These will be used initially by the engineers building the barriers and eventually by the border guard force.
The guard force can come from the same pool of pre-paid manpower that built the fence. Any type military unit, with minimal train-up, could be tasked with guarding the border. Units would serve a 30 day tour on the border. The troops would work three or four days on the border, followed by one of day unit training. This would allow units to maintain proficiency in skills not required in border security.
Eventually, the Border Patrol would take over operation of the security zone. With the use of electronic surveillance devices and UAV’s, a small number of men could cover a large area. When an intrusion is detected, mobile or airborne reaction teams would be directed to the location.
It would be better if the construction could be done by civilian construction companies creating jobs, but we just don’t have the money. It’s all going to pay people not to work.