What's Going On In Florida . . .

[OK, still don't know why Blogger's not letting me put pictures in my posts, but here's a link to the website where I got the picture . . . ]


Over on Facebook, I've been following Upworthy for some time now, and I ran across a quick article there about a map prepared by the Southern Poverty Law Center, showing by state the number of hate groups they're tracking.  On the map, you can zoom in and see little icons for the various groups, in roughly the locations they're active.  I posted a copy of this map to my wall on Facebook, and among those who liked/commented on this was my pastor, who asked, "Wow . . . what's going on in Florida?"  (BTW, Florida has 58 hate groups, according to the SPLC.)


Having lived in Florida for 5 years, more specifically in Jacksonville, I think I can comment on what's going on in Florida.


A lot of what you're seeing are echoes of slavery.  And the reaction to those echoes that still sound in our national consciousness.


You see, the northern Florida area around Jacksonville is where the term 'cracker' was coined, and in that area is not a pejorative term.  You see, it refers to the old-time white settlers in that area, and is in fact a term of pride, of belonging to that area, much in the way that 'jayhawker' refers to someone from Kansas.  Despite it's nearly universal status as a racial epithet elsewhere, 'cracker' is a term of some pride, at least in some circles, in northern Florida.


All of which wouldn't mean much.  Except that even today, nearly 150 years after emancipation, Florida is still a racial powder keg.


There weren't many Civil War battles fought in Florida, and there's only one of any real significance that I know of, the Battle of Olustee.  You see, when the Union established a blockade of southern ports, in order to ease the burdens on the fleet, the Union Army and Navy combined to occupy as many southern ports as they could, which meant that they occupied Fernandina, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine fairly early in the war. 


As the war progressed, the Union noticed that they didn't see very many Florida regiments in the Confederate Army, and took that to suggest that Floridians weren't very ardent secessionists, not being in the realm of 'King Cotton' like many of the hard-core Confederate states.  It was believed that with only limited support for the Confederacy, that perhaps Florida would be willing to return its allegiance to the Union, more so than the other Confederate states.


Well, this was a miscalculation of epic proportions.  In fact, based on a percentage of total population, Florida supplied more troops to the Confederate Army than any other state in the Confederacy.  Floridians were, in fact, very ardent secessionists, which the Union Army discovered in February of 1864 when it moved to seize a key railroad junction west of Jacksonville, near Lake City.


Once the Union troops left their enclave in Jacksonville and moved inland, the Florida irregular militia came pouring out of the woodwork, and what they lacked in military professionalism they more than made up in determination to drive off the hated Yankees, which they did in short order. 


Fast forward a hundred years, and take a look at Martin Luther King's efforts for civil rights in St. Augustine. In 1963 and into 1964, Dr. King tried to make headway with non-violent action for civil rights in and around St. Augustine.  However, there was a problem with non-violence, or more specifically a lack of acceptance of non-violence.  Determined to not die like Medgar Evers, some leaders in the civil rights movement called for and participated in violent counter-actions against the KKK, sometimes driving the KKK from their neighborhoods with gunfire.  Things were rapidly spinning out of control; some members of the NAACP were removed from their posts, the KKK kept up their attacks, and the local law enforcement frequently sided with the KKK, in turn further escalating the conflict.  Eventually Dr. King returned to Alabama where, despite an equally-determined foe in the local KKK there, non-violence was much more a viable option.


It seems that Floridians, native Floridians, know how to hate, and practice it often.


You see it in their most-extreme 'stand your ground' law.  If anyone feels as if they're threatened, for any reason, they can use deadly force.  Contrast that to Oklahoma's 'stand your ground' law, which is far more limited:  If one is in one's residence, and a person tries to illegally enter one's residence, one is authorized to use deadly force.  Now, 'residence' can mean a hotel room, a cabin, even a tent, as long as that's where one is living at the time.  The Oklahoma 'stand your ground' law goes back to the old saw about how 'a man's home is his castle', and is far more circumspect than Florida's version, which is something that wouldn't have held up even in the days of the 'Wild West'.  This is how George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin; under Florida law, approved by the Florida legislature and signed into law by either Jeb Bush or Charlie Crist (I don't remember who was governor at the time), Zimmerman was justified in using deadly force to kill Martin because Zimmerman merely 'felt' that he was threatened.  We may not agree (and I do not), we may not like that particular law, but that's what the government of the Great State of Florida has on its books.  And so far the people of that state have not seen fit to get their elected leaders to change it, either.


And today Jacksonville is a powder keg of racial tension.  Jacksonville has Florida's highest murder rate, with more murders per capita than even Miami.  But there's little to no justice.  While I was there, it seemed that the only murder cases that attracted sufficient law enforcement resources to result in an arrest were those involving whites or at the very least either politically-connected minorities or were so heinous they could not be ignored.  'Run-of-the-mill' murders, especially those involving minorities, were just left alone.  I know; I had co-workers who lost family members, or friends of their families, in just exactly these circumstances.  In short, there is no justice there.


Exacerbating the problem is the local law enforcement's harassment.  That's a strong word, and it applies here.  What I'm referring to is traffic stops.  The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office would typically pull a car over for speeding, or perhaps a seat belt violation, and the deputy would be rude--but with the dashcam running.  They'd do whatever they could to try to get the driver to react, to act out, and especially to lay even one finger on the deputy--because that constituted battery of a law enforcement officer, which is a felony, and all caught on the dashcam.  So what had been just a routine traffic stop turned into a felony conviction.  And cops (and police departments) are as big into stats as the NBA All-Stars.  And felony convictions, and a good solid felony conviction rate, are great things to brag about within the law enforcement community.  It also means good, solid funding, too.


All of which add up to a great big picture of hate.  With roots in the past of slavery, the inequality and injustice of the distant and more-recent past, and the denial of justice in the modern day, Florida (despite it's name, meaning 'flowery land) has more than its fair share of haters.

Securing the Mexican Border

If you spend much time on Facebook, and associate with a goodly variety of people, inevitably you'll come across those who insist that we need to pull our armed forces out of every foreign country, and bring them back home to secure our borders--meaning, of course, the border with Mexico, due primarily to illegal immigration as well as drug smuggling.


Well.  Having served 4 years in the US Army as a tank crewman (including Desert Shield/Desert Storm, as well as 2 years in a 'Border Cavalry' unit in Germany--BTW, I was there when the wall opened--a fit subject for another post), I know at least a little bit about the technical aspects of securing a border against infiltration by dismounted/light infantry, which is the closest analogue to what these generally arch-conservative types advocate.


It wouldn't be pretty.  Nor would it be cheap.


In fact, it's not even feasible.


You got that right--the United States armed forces, as currently configured, manned, and equipped--cannot adequately secure our border with Mexico.


[I've been meaning to post about this for some time, to at least get some facts and figures out there so people realize the enormity of the task they're talking about.  It took me some time to find a good, reliable source for these, however.]


It's been a couple of decades since author Harold Coyle wrote his book, "Trial By Fire", which is a techno-thriller (well, sort of) in the Tom Clancy style, detailing a fictional conflict between the United States and Mexico.


Harold Coyle was a United States Army officer, an Armor officer more specifically, and if memory serves he reached the rank of either Major or Lieutenant Colonel before leaving the service to concentrate on his writing.  Having 'been there and done that', his writing is full of the hallmarks of authenticity; little phrases or sayings that were common to all who served in the Army of his day (which overlapped my own).  Being an officer, and having that type of training, and recognizing the way he writes as a man who knows what he's talking about, I have no reason to doubt what he refers to in "Trial By Fire", which I'll quote from here at length.


A little bit of a prologue:

The government of Mexico has been overthrown by a military coup.  Determined to rid their country of the endemic corruption that has marked Mexico for generations, the new military leaders set up summary trials, and executions, of leaders of various groups and at varying levels to root out that corruption and establish justice throughout Mexico.  This has the effect, however, of disrupting the drug cartels, one of which hits on the bright idea of provoking the Americans into invading Mexico to stop cross-border raids, orchestrated by the cartels but carefully disguised to appear to be done by the Mexican military.  This plan meets with considerable success after several well-publicized ambushes of US Border Patrol agents, inside US borders.  While Washington gathers intelligence and tries to determine the best response, the governor of Texas beats them to the punch, activates the Texas National Guard, and sends the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas Guard to the Texas-Mexico border.

The scene here is in a conference room at Ft. Hood, near Waco, TX.  A briefing is being conducted by the US Army 10th Corps staff, for the group of governors and staff members from the various southwest-US states.  The key players here are Maj. Gen. 'Big Al' Marin, commander of the 16th Armored Division, stationed at Ft. Hood and part of 10th Corps, his staff aide Col. Scott Dixon (Coyle's 'hero' of his first few novels), and Governor Wise of Texas.

"While Big Al and Dixon stood and moved to the front of the room, the corps commander explained that the 16th Armored Division, with three active brigades and no units out of place due to training exercises, and because of its proximity to the border, was the best-prepared division to move to the border and would probably be the first to do so.  The governor of Texas cut the corps commander off, dryly reminding him that the 36th, the division that had spearheaded the first bloody attempt to cross the Rapido River in Italy during World War II, was already headed there and that the 16th would be second.

"What the corps commander did not tell Governor Wise was that the 16th was the only division that had taken this particular contingency seriously and therefore was the only division with complete and updated plans for such an emergency.  Besides, Big Al and Scott Dixon made an unbeatable pair when it came to conducting a briefing.  If they couldn't satisfy the Texans, no one could.

"While Dixon managed a blizzard of slides, charts, and maps with overlays, Big Al did his thing.  He started by stating that the United States Army, once deployed, had to consider the entire border with Mexico, not just the portion adjoining Texas.  That, he explained, represented a grand total of 1,933 miles, or 3,111 kilometers, which included mountains, desert, and urban terrain.  With that as a given, Dixon showed a slide that listed the amount of front a typical platoon, company, and battalion could defend, or cover, according to current doctrine, and handed out paper copies of the same slide to the governor and his adjutant general.

"Taking great care, Big Al explained the problems that the Army would face if it were sent to the border.  'As you can see, Governor, a mechanized infantry battalion, ordered to defend a piece of terrain, can effectively hold 10 kilometers of front.  To spread that battalion out further would mean leaving holes, or gaps, in the line.  Even with this density, however, you are looking at one combat soldier every thirty-three meters.  Were we faced with a mechanized foe, armed with tanks, armored personnel carriers, and such, that density, with the weapons available to the soldiers of a mechanized infantry battalion, would be able to stop the foe.  Unfortunately, we are facing a light infantry threat, a guerilla force not unlike the Viet Cong.  Even with extensive barriers such as barbed wire, land mines, antivehicle devices, active and passive sensors, and aggressive patrolling, the best infantry unit cannot prevent a determined foe from infiltrating through our defenses.  We ourselves train to do just that, and the enemy, whoever he is, has demonstrated that he is both a skilled and clever opponent.  Complicating this is the fact that in a typical mechanized infantry division, such as your 36th, only six battalions are infantry.  The other four are tank battalions.  In my division, I have the opposite mix, six battalions of tanks and four of infantry.  While tank battalions are the cornerstone of offensive operations, they do poorly, almost without exception, in a static defense.  The opponent we face would have little difficulty in finding weak points and infiltrating at will.'

"Shifting in his seat, Governor Wise grumbled. 'Opponent, my ass, they're goddamned murderers.  And it's my people they're murdering.'

"Big Al paused, allowing the governor to vent his spleen before carrying on.  When Governor Wise had settled back into his seat and appeared ready to listen again, Big Al continued.  'The orders we received from the 10th Corps state that my division is to be prepared to seal the border between the United States and Mexico from Laredo to Rio Grande City.  We assume that 'sealing' means preventing the movement of any hostile force north of the border.'

"Governor Wise again cut in. 'Brilliant damned assumption, General.  Did you come up with that on your own, or did you need some help from Washington?'

"Ignoring the governor's attempt to provoke him, Big Al carried on as if the governor hadn't said a word.  'Given that interpretation, we could not accomplish our mission given the forces at my disposal and the length of the border assigned.'

"The last comment, delivered in such a cool and unemotional manner, almost went over Governor Wise's head.  It took him a moment to understand what Big Al had just said.  'You mean to say that you cannot do what your own commander told you to do?  And that the United States Army cannot defend its own borders?'

"In the same controlled and unemotional manner, Big Al responded without hesitation.  'Yes, sir, that is correct.  Let me explain.  In order to seal the border, we would be obliged to deploy in the manner shown on this slide, using the deployments and densities we have just gone over.


[OK, Blogger's not working right; I can't upload the sketch I made of the illustration in the book . . .]


Now, not every battalion can be on the front.  We also assume that this will be a long-term mission, requiring the Army to be deployed for months, perhaps years.  You cannot keep a unit on the front line forever.  Therefore, some system of rotating units from the front to the rear would be necessary.  One way of doing this would be to have each brigade, with an average of three battalions, hold one battalion in reserve.  This reserve battalion, freed from frontline duty and the associated stress of that duty, would be able to rest, train, receive replacements for soldiers whose enlistments have expired, send some of its personnel on leave, and be ready to respond to any penetration of the frontline battalions.  This reserve battalion would give us tactical depth, a deeper sector that any enemy force would be required to traverse if it penetrated the front line, and a force available to deal with such penetrations.  Assuming each brigade was organized with three battalions, the division, in turn, would retain one battalion, the 10th battalion, as a division reserve for much the same purpose.  Using that system, a division would have six battalions forward deployed, allowing each division to cover sixty kilometers of front.'


"Understanding where Big Al was going, Governor Wise cut in again.  In a briefing presented by his own military people a week earlier, he had been told much the same thing.  'Okay, so what you're trying to say is that the United States Army cannot accomplish its most fundamental mission, securing its own borders.'


"Drawing in a deep breath, Big Al looked at the corps commander, then back at Governor Wise.  'In a nutshell, yes.  We simply do not have enough troops and units, even with the National Guard and Army Reserve federalized, to totally close down the border between the United States and Mexico.'  Anticipating what was coming, Dixon threw up a slide that showed the total number of divisions and personnel the Army would require to secure the border. 'As you can see on this slide, to establish a defensive system like the one I just briefed, which I repeat is by no means solid, would require fifty-two divisions, or an army of approximately 2.6 million soldiers.  That figure is roughly five [nowadays more than six] times the current standing Army authorized today.  And that figure does not leave any units left to deal with other national and international contingencies.  Two divisions in Europe, one in Korea, one in the Middle East, and a rapid-deployment force of three divisions would bump the number of divisions up to 59 and the total strength of the Army to just under three million.


"Before the shock of those figures wore off, Dixon threw up another slide labeled 'Barrier Material'.  Big Al looked at the new slide, then at Governor Wise.  'Now, we all know we cannot simply put troops out into defensive positions without some sort of barrier to protect their positions and cover the gaps between those positions. Normally, a barrier combining triple-strand concertina wire--that is, barbed wire--and antipersonnel mines is used when the threat is primarily dismounted personnel.  This slide shows the amount of material needed to construct a simple, continuous barrier, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific.'

BARRIER MATERIAL

Standard Barbed Steel-Taped Concertina                                                               611,830 rolls

Man-hours to Install Concertina                                                                              312,000 hours

Antipersonnel Mines in a 0-2-0 Density                                                            14,508,000 mines

Man-hours to Lay above Mines                                                                           1,810,000 hours

Truckloads Required to Haul above Material                                                           28,000 loads

"'Please bear in mind, Governor, that these figures are approximations only and are probably on the low side.  Various areas, such as the mountainous areas around Big Bend National Park, would require more material and time than a flat open stretch of border.'  The mention of Big Bend National Park caused the governor to wince, as Big Al had expected.  After all, the vision of laying mines and stringing barbed wire through a national park was, to most Americans, a very disturbing thought.  If anyone had missed the significance of Big Al's definition of "sealing the border" before, the last series of slides left no doubt as to the magnitude of what that task would entail, and, as a follow-on, what it would cost, both financially and, more important to some, politically."

-----------------------------------------

So, there you have it.  Given the fact that the United States Army is currently 'drawing down' to a force of 490,000 troops, and with further budget cuts planned, to drop further to around 440,000 total, a force large enough to secure our border with Mexico would require a United States Army that was nearly 8 times larger than what is currently planned in the 2016 timeframe.  And don't think that by adding the Marines to the mix you'll be much better off; they're going to be around 170,000 total at that time, too, for a total combined land combat strength of 610,000 soldiers and Marines--worldwide--or around 1/5th the total force necessary to secure our southern border.

And do we really want to buy, emplace, and maintain nearly 15 million new land mines along our border?  Also please realize that at least 1/4 of those mines will need 'anti-handling devices'--booby traps--to deter a potential adversary from disarming them or simply stealing them and using them for their own ends.

Just something I thought I'd throw out there into the mix on the immigration reform controversy.