“The Mexican Army reported the seizure of multiple weapons and tactical equipment Friday night in the municipality of Cuernavaca, Morelos,” borderlandbeat.com reports. “According to military authorities 19 mostly assault type weapons, 8 pistols, 153 magazines, approximately 4,000 rounds of ammunition, tactical harnesses, 1 kilogram of heroin and what appears to be a set of U.S. camouflage fatigues with U.S. hook and loop patches were discovered by soldiers inside an abandoned stolen vehicle that was located with information from an anonymous tip.” First, has anyone noticed that the Mexicans aren’t IDing confiscated weaponry since Fast and Furious hit the headlines? Second, what’s a MO National Guard Unit patch doing in a drug gang’s weapons cache?
Isnt it pretty well known that people have been joining the U.S Military to get at least basic training, and then deserting or going U.A? Is this just an exaggerated rumor i’ve heard?
Sure, you can get ACUs pretty easy, but I don’t know a lot of service men that would sell them *With* their patches on them.
The patches are fairly easy to get as well.
That particular patch is not easy to get. That’s my unit (on the right). That patch is not available in stores. You would have to be an insider. It’s possible that some obscure website would sell it. Highly suspect.
EDIT: Nevermind. Found the patch here: http://www.militaryclothing.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Browse.asp?PRODUCT_NAME=110th&search.x=0&search.y=0
For starters, the flag patches don’t match the uniform … so it seems to be put together in order to look like an American military uniform. It may just be more of a coincidence that the patches are from an MO ARNG unit.
Probably a theory that hits closer to home is the use of police or military uniforms to conduct criminal activity. Just recently there was a DGU where a man shot at two characters posing as FBI agents inf Florida. For what reasons they tried to attack, I don’t recall. Also, last year, a guy in Georgia was shot by two fake FBI agents around Atlanta.
It’s easy to push this to the other side of the coin, but the most logical explanation is that it was to be used as a cover costume – given the type of weaponry hinted it, it most likely was par for the course to use a ACU type uniform.
I think you have a point in that the uniform can be a cover for criminal activity.
Oh no – this will not do…
Some ARNG units do border patrol for their drills, it would be a lot easier to walk across the border wearing ACUs and an AR then to walk across in jeans and an AK.
http://www.ng.mil/news/archives/2008/07/071608-Border_Patrol.aspx
i agree with tom’s assessment, but wouldn’t that quickly lead to questions like.
why don’t you have a nametag an your uniform?
how did you get out here all by yourself with no transport?
things like that, i agree with potential for BG costume with this uniform, all i’m thinking is that it would be a fairly complex ruse to pull off.
Around North Vernon IN., we have all sorts of military individuals from different units taking training at the Urban Training Center. They stop by Wendys or Taco Bell. Nobody ever questions them.
All one need do is to to this website among others…
http://www.militaryclothing.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Shelf/asp/hierarchy/07010V.html
…..and punch in a valid credit card number and adress. I doubt this incident was any more sinister than some cousin or associate who wore his brothers spare ACU gear south of the border. I chalk this up to unjustified paranoia. As far as people in uniform committing crimes go that ship has sailed a long time ago.
The cartels are always trying to get their hands on stuff imported from the US, like guns, uniforms and dope. Was that 1 kg. of heroin the genuine US Army issue? I hear it’s far superior to the Mexican black tar sh!t.
@ “First, has anyone noticed that the Mexicans aren’t IDing confiscated weaponry since Fast and Furious hit the headlines?”
This has been happening for years before the F&F dabacle. We, as the fat-wallet big brother, were often not allowed to do our own trace of weapons.
Doing so would show that Uncle Sam (with the possible exception of F&F) is NOT the cause off Mexicos’ ills.
It’s just more finger pointing from people that are unable to police their own. Squirrely little bastards, aren’t they? Sound familiar?
Patches? We don’ need no steenking patches…
Several points.
Firstly: It is entirely possible to purchase unit patches from suppliers, go to any city which hosts a military base of any size, you will find conveniently clustered around most of the access control points dozens (depending on the size) of suppliers which will carry patches both for the various “dress” uniforms and for the ACU uniform available for purchase. There are no controls in place as to who can buy these, no one will card you for them if you don’t need to be carded for some other reason (such as having paid with a debit or credit card) and it is not a crime simply to buy and possess them. No crime would have been committed by these individuals (at least not one pertaining to the uniform) up until the point where they actually put the uniform on and impersonated a member of the U.S. armed forces, this is then a felony. Furthermore wearing parts of the uniform or wearing the uniform with deliberate “mistakes” or alterations in order to portray a member of the armed forces for “creative” purposes is not a crime.
Second thing: From the picture, I see only one mistake, that being the flag that appears to be on the left sleeve above the unit insignia. The flags not matching is not in and of itself a mistake, the fact that there are two of them is a mistake. The flag is to be worn on the right sleeve with the stars on the front side of the pocket so that when the soldier moves it appears as if the flag is unfurling while the soldier runs. The flag seen on the right sleeve is acceptable, it is called a “subdued” or “combat” variation which is intended to be used in tactical settings or on deployments. The fact that there are two different unit patches is also correct. The unit patch worn on the left sleeve represents the unit that a soldier is currently assigned to, while the unit patch on the right sleeve may be worn during and at any time following a deployment (this meaning to a warzone.) Said unit patch worn on the right sleeve may be any unit that the soldier is deployed with or any unit which the soldier has previously deployed with, so if you deployed with a unit, were then detached while “in-country” and reassigned to a different unit you would have two different options to wear on your right sleeve when you got home. If you then deployed later with yet a third separate unit at any time thereafter on any given day you would have three options for your “combat” patch. It’s worth noting also that you are not obligated to wear a combat patch if you have deployed, it’s up to you.
@”Dr. Dave” –“Isnt it pretty well known that people have been joining the U.S Military to get at least basic training, and then deserting or going U.A? Is this just an exaggerated rumor i’ve heard?”
In my five years of service I’ve heard that rumor before, and while it is true that gang activity does take place among soldiers to some extent I have never heard of someone joining simply to go to basic training and then deserting (i.e. going AWOL or absent without leave, UA meaning: unaccounted for simply applies to situations where a soldier has been absent for less then 48 consecutive hours or has missed a formation without giving prior notice, after 48 hours they are AWOL.) Joining the military is not as simple, easy or quick as it seems in movies like Stripes, plus when they turn up AWOL if they then get popped for a future crime they are liable for prosecution not only under U.S. criminal Law but ALSO under UCMJ (the Uniform Code of Military Justice.) Meaning that they might get popped on some gang related offense and serve a couple of months in county only to be remanded to military custody upon release at which point they could be sentenced to military prison. This puts a much higher risk on a potential gang-member and I don’t see how anyone in their right mind could possibly think that the absurdly increased risk to their “soldiers” in the gang of imprisonment would be a risk worth taking just to get 2 months of free PT and marksmanship training.
These people may be criminals but they are obviously highly organized and clever (I’ll stop short of actually attributing intelligence to them.)
I had to fact check you and didn’t realize they updated the 670-1 until I did. They changed it alot around 2004-2005 it appears. I stand corrected, but it still looks like the proverbial dog pile to wear two unmatched flags on one uniform.
Our infantry unit never wore the US colored flag (just double checked all my Ft. Benning photos and such) when in BDU. It was subdued or desert if we did have it, course that was during the first GW and alot of stuff was mismatched forest green and tan. Didn’t realize they were ‘encouraging’ everyone to wear it now and pretty much sticking with colored flags most of the time ‘for the sake of morale and not camouflage’.
We aren’t ‘encouraged’ to wear the flag, its a required part of the uniform. Whether it’s a full color flag or a subdued one is pretty much driven by your deployment status.
I know .. read the new regs, called sarcasm btw.
“It is entirely possible to purchase unit patches from suppliers, go to any city which hosts a military base of any size, you will find conveniently clustered around most of the access control points dozens (depending on the size) of suppliers which will carry patches both for the various “dress” uniforms and for the ACU uniform available for purchase”
The only caveat to this is that the various state headquarters patches aren’t for sale in either the PX nor outside the gate. Is this patch for a regular brigade or larger unit that happens to be part of the MO ARNG, or is it the patch for the state MO ARNG? There is a distinction.
Either way it can be purchased on Ebay
I’m more interested in Robt’s comment….
Ok, lemme guess- this is like a quiz, right?
Maybe for one of those truth-seeking NYT national security type journalists – you know, the really really smart and ethical ones who no matter what have to tell us all about our spy capability…even if Al Qaeda gets away…
No, wait, this is not that complicated- this must be aimed at those folks at MSNBC…the snarky gal, and the tingle leg guy…its not that hard…
http://www.hark.com/clips/sfpbhcvhzh-jeopardy-theme
Update —
It took me less than 50 seconds (including the time it took me to type my search “unit patches for sale” but not including the time to type this post) to find a website where these narco-terrorists could have easily purchased everything displayed in the picture associated with this article for under $125 dollars including S&H with no more than a credit or debit card and with absolutely NO IDENTITY verification.
Here is the site (popped up number 3 on my Bing search.)
http://www.militaryuniformsupply.com/army-multicam-ocp-unit-patches
I guess my questions would be A: Were those pictures really taken at the site and not say taken from the internet? and B: If they were, where is the proof they badges we not stolen? We are still presumed innocent until proven guilty in this country?
Cache? 27 weapons and 4,000 rounds of ammo? Does anyone know at what number of firearms does your collection go from collection to cache to arsenal?
In other news
13 illegals caught wearing Marine uniforms and driving fake military vehicle here
Man caught driving fake state truck here
and finally, we have a MX citizen entering the US in a fake Border Patrol vehicle here
The media are quick to call more than 3 guns an arsenal.
To think that the Cartels are not recruiting Mexican American teenagers to join the US military to further their goals is naive. The army gets you at 18, MS13 gets you at 12.
http://www.military.com/news/article/2011/fbi-says-gangs-infiltrating-the-us-military.html