Best Post of the Week of June 16, 2019

The best posts of the week of June 16, 2019.

The Mexican Border War: The Third Battle of Ciudad Juarez. June 15-16, 1919 Part 3.

Stocking challenges and local businesses

A Story of Badges

June 21, 1919. The Germans Scuttle Their Fleet in Scapa Flow.

The 2020 Election, Part 1

It's June 21 and . . .

I'm freezing.

43F.  That's the current temperature.  On June 21?

That's because a bunch of windows were left open last night.

At some point in the Spring I just give up on closing them.  My long suffering spouse views hot and cold in terms of the calendar, and so when its Spring, it's warm, irrespective of whether it is or not.

And its not.

Earlier this Spring there was a headline about the day being the coldest one on record since 1940 and its just flat out stayed cold.  I don't mean cool, I mean cold.  There's still snow in the high country. There would be.  We had snow just a week or so ago.

And its been incredibly wet.  I'm sick of it.

Indeed, its been so wet I have not taken the top off of my Jeep.  By now, I usually have.  I've pretty much just given up on the thought of doing it this summer at all.  It rained last night, and its been raining every day.  Cold rain.

Strangest summer. . . ever.

What are you listening to?

Poster Saturday: Indian Court Federal Building

This is a Depression Era poster for an art display, apparently focusing on Indian art, which was held at the Indian Court Federal Building in San Francisco as part of the Golden Gate International Exposition.

I'm not familiar with this building and don't know if it even still exists.  My presumption is that it did serve a Bureau of Indian Affairs Court function. At that time, most tribes had BIA Courts, which is no longer the case as most tribes have taken jurisdiction of their own court systems.  It must have been located on Treasure Island, as that's where this event took place.  The Golden Gate Intentional Exposition was an effort at a World's Fair that was held to commemorate the two recently opened bridges spanning the San Francisco Harbor.  It ran from February 1939 to October 1939, and then was briefly and unsuccessfully reopened in 1940.

June 22, 1919: Reichstag votes to accept the Versailles Treaty, Allies engage in sports, Faroe's display flag, Minnesota hit by tornado.

On this day in 1919 the Reichstag voted 237 to 138 to accept the Versailles Treaty, while its Supreme Counsel also rejecting the war guilt clauses.  The Reichstag vote sealed the question of whether Germany would sign the peace agreement, or endure an Allied invasion of its territory.  It voted to accept.

While the Germans were gathering to vote to tend the war, the Allies were holding the Inter Allied Games, an Olympic like event restricted to serving Allied soldiers or discharged Allied soldiers. The event was held in Paris' new Pershing Stadium.

The inaugural events were clearly impressive.

The Arabs wouldn't be getting independent countries for siding with the Allies, but they did get their own team at the event.

In the Faroe Islands, a Danish dependency, displayed its flag unofficially for the first time on this day at a wedding.

The Faroe's have their own language and are culturally distinct. An independence movement has existed on the islands since the late 19th Century and it was growing at this time.  Further developments would lead to the Faroe's declaring independence in 1946, which was accordingly rejected by Denmark, but which did grant the islands home rule.  They did not follow Denmark into the European Community and therefore are outside of it.

Fergus Falls was hit by a terrible tornado that killed 57 people, the second worst tornadic event in Minnesota's history.

Fergus Falls, Minn. after the cyclone, June 22, 1919,

It's June 21 and . . .

I'm freezing.

43F.  That's the current temperature.  On June 21?

That's because a bunch of windows were left open last night.

At some point in the Spring I just give up on closing them.  My long suffering spouse views hot and cold in terms of the calendar, and so when its Spring, it's warm, irrespective of whether it is or not.

And its not.

Earlier this Spring there was a headline about the day being the coldest one on record since 1940 and its just flat out stayed cold.  I don't mean cool, I mean cold.  There's still snow in the high country. There would be.  We had snow just a week or so ago.

And its been incredibly wet.  I'm sick of it.

Indeed, its been so wet I have not taken the top off of my Jeep.  By now, I usually have.  I've pretty much just given up on the thought of doing it this summer at all.  It rained last night, and its been raining every day.  Cold rain.

Strangest summer. . . ever.

June 21, 1919. The Germans Scuttle Their Fleet in Scapa Flow.

The Bayern sinking.

On this day in 1919 German sailors, those loyal to their officers who had been retained while less loyal ones had been sent home, followed their officers orders and sent fifteen flag ships, thirty two destroyers and four cruisers to the bottom of Scapa Flow rather than turn them over to the Allies.

The action was both an acquiesce that the game was up for Germany in a definitive and irretrievable way and an act of defiance.  The German commander in charge of the interned fleet was under the impression that the Armistice would come to an end on this day and the Allies would seize the vessels.  He was aware that they could not escape, so scuttling them was an act of loyalty towards his government, if a Pyrrhic on that also acknowledged that the German cause was lost.

Some of the same vessels had been involved in mutinies against the German government in 1918 during which German sailors had demonstrated that they were done with the war and were teetering on the brink of communist rebellion.  Those same crews had not been reliable in internment, but the officers had sent disloyal sailors back to Germany as the crews of the ships were reduced while they were in Scapa flow.  So by this time, the remaining crewmen were loyal to their officers.

The sea cocks of the vessels were opened up around 10:00 but their sinking was not noticeable for another two hours.  At that time the German sailors abandoned their ships, although about fifteen were shot by the British in the process. They became prisoners of war.  Not all of the German ships in Scapa Flow were sunk, and the those that were not were taken into British possession.  The sunken ships themselves were left in place until 1923 when some were salvaged as part of a private operation.

The German navy never regained the status it had prior to this date.

Of course, it wouldn't have in any event.  While the ships went into internment with the hope that some would be released to a new German navy, there was little realistic hope of that.

The German scuttling made the headlines as far away as Wyoming that very day.  At the same time readers were reading that the country might be on the brink of war, but with Mexico.

The paper noted correctly that Germany needed to form a new cabinet, and in fact it already had.  At the same time, Eamon DeValera was in the country arguing for the recognition of his government in Ireland.

As the German fleet was sinking, in Vanada Virginia, this ship was being launched.

And the President of Brazil was visiting Washington D. C.

A Story of Badges

Just what the U.S. Army doesn't need. . . yet another badge.

What am I talking about? Well this:

In conjunction with the U.S. Army's 244th Birthday, the Army announced a new proficiency badge today, called the Expert Soldier Badge.

The ESB is designed to improve lethality, recognize excellence in Solder combat skills and increase individual, unit and overall Army readiness. The ESB is the equivalent of the Expert Infantry Badge and Expert Field Medical Badge but for all other military occupational specialties in the Army. Commanders will soon be able to use the badge to recognize Soldiers who attain excellence in physical fitness and marksmanship and a high standard of expertise in land navigation and performing warfighting tasks. 

"The ESB will be an important component of increasing Soldier lethality and overall readiness to help achieve the vision for the Army of 2028," said Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey. "The EIB and EFMB have supported the Infantry and medical fields with distinction, ensuring their Soldiers maintain critical skills, while recognizing the very best among them. The ESB will achieve the same for the rest of the Army." 

The Army will implement the ESB in early fiscal year 2020, with the standards and regulation to be finalized by September 2019. Earning the badge will test a Soldier's proficiency in physical fitness, marksmanship, land navigation and other critical skills, and demonstrates a mastery of the art of soldiering. 

The ESB training and testing will be extremely challenging, mission-focused, and conducted under realistic conditions. Those in the Infantry, Special Forces, and Medical career management fields are not eligible for the ESB.

"Like the EIB and EFMB, the ESB test will be a superb venue for individual training in units and the badge will recognize a Soldier's mastery," said Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commanding general, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. "And it will be just as tough to earn as the EIB and EFMB because the Soldier will have to demonstrate fitness, weapons proficiency, navigation and warrior task skill at the expert level."

Standards for the ESB are still being refined but they will not be adjusted for age, gender or any other criteria. The test will share about 80 percent of the same warrior tasks as the EIB and EFMB, and is designed so it can be administered alongside and together with them. Brigade commanders will decide if and when to schedule the test so it best fits their training schedules.

Under the ESB test process, Soldiers will demonstrate mastery of individual skills through different evaluations over a five-day period. The standards for the ESB place candidates under varying degrees of stress that test their physical and mental abilities as they execute critical tasks to an established set of standards. 

To qualify to take the ESB test, Soldiers must pass the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), qualify as "Expert" on the M4/M16 rifle and be recommended by their chain of command.

The test itself consists of another ACFT, day and night land navigation, individual testing stations, and culminates with a 12-mile foot march. ESB test stations include warrior tasks laid out in the ESB regulation and may also include five additional tasks selected by the brigade commander from the unit's mission essential task list. Example tasks include:

 React to an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Attack 

 Construct Individual Fighting Positions

 Search an Individual in a Tactical Environment 

 Employ Progressive Levels of Individual Force 

 Mark CBRN-Contaminated Areas

"We worked tirelessly on the ESB to ensure we got it right," said Command Sgt. Maj. Edward W. Mitchell, Center for Initial Military Training Command. "We wanted to provide commanders the opportunity to recognize their top Soldiers who have met the highest standard of performance in physical fitness, warfighting tasks and readiness."

Each ESB task will be evaluated on a "go" or "no-go" basis. Pass rates during the ESB pilot testing were similar to that of the EIB and EFMB.

"The ESB is all about increasing the readiness of our Army. It will provide commanders outside the Infantry, Special Forces and medical communities the opportunity to recognize Soldiers who best demonstrate excellence in their fields," said Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Guden, TRADOC Command Sergeant Major.

"This is not a badge to award so that the entire Army now has an 'expert' badge to wear. As it is now, not every Infantryman or Special Forces Soldier earns the EIB and not every medic earns the EFMB. Keeping with the same mindset, this is a badge to award to those who truly deserve recognition as an expert in their career field; for those who have achieved a high level of competence and excellence in their profession."

The U.S. Army has gotten as bad about badges as the Boy Scouts.

Okay, that's pretty harsh. . . if true.

Now, for the uninitiated, this device is a badge.  It's not a medal, or an award per se.  It's something your receive to reflect a qualification.

And that's the problem. At this point, the Army has arrived at a point at which its been headed for some time.  It's handing out badges for simply being a soldier. That way the many soldiers who aren't combat solders don't have to feel bad about it.

Army Wound Ribbon of 1917.

Up until 1943 the Army didn't issue badges of this type at all.  It did issue awards of various types. . medals, campaign ribbons, etc., but not badges as a rule.  The World War One "wound chevron", worn by solders who had been wounded in combat, was perhaps a bit of an exception.  That device replaced the Wound Ribbon of 1917, and was authorized for wear until 1932 when it was replaced by the Purple Heart.  A person can, and perhaps should, debate whether that replacement was a wise decision, as while being wounded is horrible, a medal was traditionally awarded for valor, and being wounded isn't ipso factor necessarily valorous.  It's bad any way you look at it, and that is worth noting, and most Western armies have at least since that time period.

Army Wound Chevron

Overseas stripes were similar and came in at the same time.  Prior to that the Army didn't issue anything at all for overseas service.  Starting in the Great War, however, soldiers earned a stripe or bar to be placed on the uniform for certain periods of overseas service, recognizing the hardship that entailed.  It's notable that this hardship was really only regarded as such, however, once a large conscript U.S. Army was in place.  Prior to that, as long as the Army was all volunteer, it was regarded as notable.

Indeed, prior to World War One there weren't any badges or related devices issued by the Army. . . or any of the other services, at all.

The first real badge of the type we're discussing came about in 1943 with the Combat Infantryman Badge.  That badge, which is still around, came about due to a real evolution in the U.S. Army between 1918 and 1941.  As late as the Great War it was simply assumed that your chances of being a combat soldier, if you were in the Army, were so high that it wasn't noteworthy.  By World War Two, however, the Army had evolved to where, contrary to the way we imagine it, most soldiers were no longer combat troops. . . by a long margin.

Combat Infantryman Badge.

In that new environment the soldiers who really got the sharp end of the stick, the infantrymen, were now regarded as sufficiently unique that they deserved something recognizing that status, a recognition with which I fully agree, but which I must note at the same time means that almost every soldier of prior eras was sort of slighted in a way.  In we look at the Army of 1916-18, or of 1898, or of 1860-65, there were vast numbers of combat infantrymen.  Indeed, most soldiers up until some point in that time frame were infantrymen.  By 1940, that was no longer true, and being in that unenviable situation was recognized as both unique and horrific, and deserving of a badge.  It likely was, but that reflected an interesting evolution.

The award of a badge followed a bit of a trend that was already ongoing in that there were now specialist in service whereas there had not been previously. That is, prior to World War One, infantrymen were infantrymen, artillerymen were artillerymen, etc.  There were elite units in some cases, but not whole elite military occupations that were refinements of other fields.  That came to an end, however, with aircraft.

Army jump wings indicating that the soldier wearing the wings is qualified on a parachute.

Flying an airplane was so unique and required such skill that it soon qualified the person who could do it to wear pilots wings.  This makes perfect sense and all services adopted the practice.  When developments in aircraft allowed, by World War Two, for airborne infantry, first for those qualified for parachute operation, and then later for glider infantry as well (a truly dangerous and somewhat forgotten aspect of the airborne).  Jump wings came first, followed in 1944 by glider wings.

Army glider wings.

This evolved fairly rapidly to where there were additional specialized wings for combat jumps and the like, which also makes some sense.

It's at this point, where the story begins to get a little off track.

When the Army authorized the Combat Infantryman Badge in 1943, it also authorized the Expert Infantryman Badge, a badge simply for qualifying as expert in the military specialty.   The qualifications for the badge are real, but what was going on in the background of this was a tacit acknowledgment that not only were most American soldiers not infantrymen, but that most didn't want to be infantrymen either.  Something was being done to try to encourage them, basically, for drawing the short end of the stick.

 Army Expert Infantryman Badge.

I've personally always admired the badge, but the oddities of it have always struck me as well, as I was an artilleryman, which is another combat MOS.  For guys in the artillery, or the cavalry, or armor, or. . . you get the point, it always seemed odd that there was a CIB and the AEI when we, on the other hand, could be expected to be in combat too but not get any badge.

This was particularly the case for those holding the cavalry MOS during World War Two, as they sometimes fought as infantry and didn't qualify for the badge.  Of course, many fought as armored cavalrymen and no armored soldier, no matter how dangerous the occupation was, qualified for a badge.  The really raw deal, however, was for medics, who occupied an extremely dangerous position but weren't infantrymen so they received no badge.  Indeed, while they had briefly qualified for it during World War Two, the qualification was withdrawn out of the fear that they'd be captured wearing it and not accorded non combatant status.

That was ultimately addressed by the Combat Medic Badge, which came into existence in January 1945.

Combat Medic Badge.

Again, I think the CMB is a real badge and one that I'd not care to be in a position to wear myself.  Not too surprisingly, however, it followed the evolution of the CIB and in 1965 there came to be the Expert Field Medical Badge.

Army Expert Field Medical Badge.

Recognizing that there are a lot of troops who get into combat action who aren't infantrymen, in 2001, there came to be the Combat Action Badge.  It's like the CIB, but for troops who aren't in the infantry.

Army Combat Infantry Badge.

And now, of course, following the inevitable evolution of badges, we now have the Expert Soldier Badge.

Army Expert Soldier Badge.

Well, that's going too far in my view.

Indeed, there's been a real expansion of awards in general in the Army since World War Two.  And the Army isn't alone in this, the Navy has a plethora of badges as well.

Well, as an old Guardsmen, I'm probably in no position to criticize the Army on this, but I'm going to anyhow.  Some of these badges, such as those for qualifying for unique skills, such as being in the airborne, I get and feel to be worthwhile.  And the ones reflecting combat. . . well combat is unique and I get that as well.  But just being well trained in your occupation. . . nah.  That's awarding you for what you ought to be striving for anyhow, and if you are really good at it, that should be reflected in some other fashion.  Not a badge.

Indeed, at this point, I'd eliminate all the Expert badges.  And I'm not too certain that it isn't my view that if there's going to be "combat" badges, that ought to be down to just two.  Medics still deserve their own, no matter what.  And for that matter, I'd actually keep the Combat Infantryman Badge around as well.

But I'd leave it at that.

June 20, 1919. German government dissolves Villa asks why, and Californians go for root beer

On this day in 1919, the German government dissolved in protest over the Allied ultimatum to sign the Paris Peace Treaty.

The dissolution put the question of German acceptance of the treaty into real doubt in some quarters, as would soon be evident, but in the U.S. it was largely treated as a sign that the Germans were sure to sign.

The same newspaper brought a headline that the U.S. would face an inevitable war with Japan.

And a delegation from Villa's forces wanted to know why the U.S. had intervened in Juarez.

The news from Cheyenne was largely the same, except for the honoring of the 75th birtday of Francis E. Warren.

In Lodi, California, a California farming town, the firm that would become A&W was opened by Roy W. Allen as a root beer stand.  The firm would be expanded into a restaurant in 1923 when Allen partnered with his employee Frank Wright.

Our town had an A&W the entire time I was growing up, but for whatever reason, my parents didn't frequent it and it wasn't until high school that I became very familiar with it.  I never picked up a taste for it, probably due to that late exposure, even though I've always thought their root beer was pretty good.  It had a very 1950s feel to it, as it featured the sort of drive up ordering spots common to drive ins of the 1950s.

Stocking challenges and local businesses

A "distributor wrench".  After receiving the "we can have that for you tomorrow" reply, I actually did find one of these locally. But only because an industrial supply store told me where I could get one from another industrial supplier. . . as long as I entered that story with the story that I was buying it for a business.

Ulysses Everett McGill:

Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere!

From Oh Brother! Where Art Thou!

Recently I had need of a distributor wrench.

I actually didn't know that's what they were called.  Only that there were curved wrenches.  I wasn't working on a distributor, I was working on starter, and there was a bolt way up underneath the starter that was very hard to remove and which called for the use of a curved wrench.  I lacked one.

And so the Odyssey began.

I can recall these being available locally, more specifically in auto parts stores, which is where I'd expect to find them:

"We can have one for you tomorrow".

That's the answer that I received.

That's the answer that was also provided about the starter a bit earlier.  "We can have that for you tomorrow".  I suppose that's no surprise, the vehicle is far from new.

For windshield wipers, which ended up being the wrong size when they arrived (for that matter, the first stater was defective), it was a a few days that it took, which was perhaps even more understandable.

But then, even stopping in at the bakery for cookies on that day brought the news "we'll have them tomorrow".

And hence the problem of being in modern retail.

For almost any question asked, if the answer is "we can have them. . . ", well I can probably have them delivered to my door in short order.

But maybe not tomorrow.

Any time over that. . . well I can do that as well.

And hence the problem with modern retail.

Being of a distributist mindset, I always try to buy local if I can.  And I try to go to a local retailer for that matter. If a local retailer isn't available, I try to go to a locally owned franchise.

But as the Internet has set in, it's become harder and harder for local retailers, and that reflects itself unfortunately on what's available over the counter, or on the shelves.  I understand that the market is competitive, and an auto parts store doesn't want to necessarily spend its money to stock items for a fifty year old engine (in fairness, one highly local parts store did. . . but for the one with the automatic transmission, not the standard transmission. . . but next time I'll start their first) when they have to compete with parts outfits that can deliver the same items over the net and probably have a different stocking financial dynamic.

And I'm not really blaming them for that. But if I'm left, as I was on at least one occasion, with a several day wait. . . will I buy locally or simply order?

I ordered from the local retailer, but I'm likely the exception.

Indeed, often the answer isn't "I can have that here tomorrow" but "we can order that for you".  If that's the answer, it's not the correct one.  I can order it too.  Most people will. Sometimes I will also.

Indeed, not in auto parts but something else, I've had a clerk him and haw about an item while looking on the net only to say "I can order that for you" and quote me a price four times as high as the one I looked up on the net myself.  I knew that they wouldn't have that in stock, but wanted to give them the chance.  I didn't order it from the store for obvious reasons.

Likewise, just recently I stopped in The Tattered Cover, a big downtown bookstore in Denver that I've always loved and experienced the "we can order. . ." reply to a book that's fairly common, if quite old, which I thought they might stock.  The Tattered Cover remains a great book store and a Denver institution, but it's now a one story book store when it had been a three story one some decades ago.  I'm sure that Amazon cut into its business.  But it just doesn't carry what it once did, which doesn't mean that its not worth going to.  Indeed, I bought several books there.  I'll stop in a local independent retailer and see if they have the same book, but I fear that I'll hear the "we can order" reply, and understandably.

To put this in really extreme terms there's not even a local clothing retailer in my home town that sells clothing suited for my weekday line of work anymore.  Not one.  There used to always be one downtown, but no longer.  There's still one that sells Western clothing, so I can buy Levis from a local retailer, but I can't buy, for example, the Levis' product sold under the name "Dockers" from a locally owned store.

This relates in this odd way.

Dockers are chinos and they're common office wear for folks who work in offices.  As there aren't any local retailers who sell them anymore, for a good twenty plus years I've bought them from one of the giant retailers at the "mall".  One of them still stocks a lot of trousers, but Sears, which used to offer some variety and competition to the other, Penny's, got pretty thin in that department.  Maybe it's improved, I don't know, but I don't go in there anymore.  I gave up.  Anyhow, last time I bought Dockers, yes, I ordered them over the net.  Levi's on line store had a better selection.  I should probably buy some more chinos but now I'm literally at the point where my debate is whether to buy directly from Levi's or one of the other brands that's out there.

None of which is a position that a person with a Distributist and Localist mindset really wants to be in.

I don't know how to solve this problem, so this isn't a tirade against local retailers.  But there has been a change that is a self feeding one into irrelevance that retailers do need to grapple with.  If a person wants to buy locally, there needs to be a reason to do it beyond mere philosophical mindset for most people.  It's highly understandable if specialty items aren't available, but if common ones also aren't, pretty quickly most people will go elsewhere.

Put another way, its understandable while an old starter isn't available, even though at one time in the same places getting it would have been the norm, as it isn't a rare part.  But if curved wrenches that used to sit behind the counter aren't, that's a problem.

The 148th Field Artillery musters out of service at Camp Mills, New York.

On this date the 148th Field Artillery mustered out of service at Camp Mills, New York.

That brought to an end the Great War service of the 148th, but it did not mean that the Guardsmen who were in the unit were now civilians. Rather, they were released from service with the unit and sent on to their home states for discharge or to military establishments near their home states.  In the case of Wyoming National Guardsmen, that meant a trip to Ft. D. A. Russell at Cheyenne.  Colorado Guardsmen in the unit likewise were discharged at Ft. D. A. Russell.

Their service was nearly over, however, as that wouldn't take long.  With that discharge they came to the end of three years of service, with a brief interruption, at least in the case of men who had first been activated for border service in the Punitive Expedition.

The 148th Field Artillery would come back into existence on  September 16, 1940 as part of the build up prior to World War Two.  It would serve in the Pacific during World War Two and would go on to serve, as part of the Oregon National Guard, in the Korean War.  It was one of the National Guard units that saw service during the Vietnam War.  It's currently party of the Idaho National Guard.

Camp Mills no longer exists.  It was located in what is now Garden City, New York, a community on Long Island.

June 18, 1919. Aftermaths

President Wilson toured Belgium.

While in the U.S., the aftermath of the fighting in Juarez was still in the headlines.  The Mexican government was regarding the incident as closed, the U.S. Senate, now in GOP hands, was considering investigating U.S. relations with Mexico since the onset of the Revolution, and Americans in Chickasaw were advised to get out.

Meanwhile, the Germans were reported to be considering what would occur if they rejected the Paris Peace Treaty.

Blog Mirror: Traveling With the Ninth Cavalry

Traveling With the Ninth Cavalry

Monday At The Bar: ANALOG ATTORNEY Fountain Pen Obsession Starter Kit Even better than golf for wasting money.

ANALOG ATTORNEY

Fountain Pen Obsession Starter Kit

Even better than golf for wasting money.

If a society has to be medicated in order to function, what's that mean.

Recently a person I barely know came to me (and as I barely know her, that's why he probably came to me) and told me that in order to keep working in her job as a trial lawyer she's gone on antidepressants.  The net results is that she feels better about the world, but now she's having trouble with her husband as her drive has been reduced to zero. He doesn't understand.

I'll bet he doesn't.

There are quite a few people who do need pharmaceuticals to function, and that's fine. But they all have some costs.  If our bodies are telling us "enough", maybe we should listen to that.  We probably ought to before we drug ourselves in order to just pull ourselves through our job and wipe out a natural part of our lives at home.  That's just flat out horrible, in my view.

Truly, a recently printed headline. Um. . . no kidding.

MAJOR NEW RESEARCH FINDS THERE’S NO ONE PERFECT EATING PLAN FOR EVERYONE

The Mexican Border War: The Third Battle of Ciudad Juarez. June 15-16, 1919 Part 3.

The Juarez racetrack on June 16, 1919.  The large hole in the cupola was caused by it being hit by American artillery.

And with this, the story of the United States and the Mexican Revolution, which we started following nearly daily with the 1916 Columbus Raid, and which became as story which bled into World War One, while not definitively over, is significantly over.

As we saw first on June 14, the Villistas launched their anticipated attack on Juarez very late in the night of June 14.  That attack first met with success, but by morning the Villistas had been pushed back.  American forces that had moved up in anticipation of crossing the Rio Grande accordingly went back into Ft. Bliss.

Those troops were soon back out.  Villa's renewed attack was proving successful and the troops reassembled to cross the Rio Grande.  This time they also brought up two armored gun trucks, the first time they'd been used by the U.S. Army in this locality.  Searchlights were also deployed to illuminate Juarez's streets and buildings in the night.

As the battle raged in Juarez shots inevitably began landing in El Paso, wounding and killing American civilians.  At first the Americans held their fire, but ultimately after taking a few casualties the U.S. Army intervened.  The final blow for the U.S. Army was when Pvt. Salvatore Fusco was killed by Villista sniper fire and Pvt. Burchard F. Casey was wounded.  With that, the American troops were ordered across the border to restore order.  The armored gun trucks crossed the Santa Fe Bridge followed by the 24th Infantry Regiment.  The 5th and 7th Cavalry, under Col. Tommy Tomkins, crossed the Rio Grande directly and moved to the western part of the city with the goal of creating a pincer movement in which Villa would be caught.  Near the Juarez racetrack the infantry encountered withdrawing Constitutionalist who informed them that the Villistas were dug in at the racetrack, which the 82nd Artillery then shelled.  Cavalry advanced from the east on the racetrack but encountered no Villista forces.

 Pvt. Salvatore Fusco.

At daybreak, the Cavalry returned to the river to water their horses and then moved south into Mexico in hopes of assaulting Villa's base.

They did in fact locate it, shell it and then assault it.  However, the Villistas, while at first surprised while eating breakfast, rapidly abandoned the camp, leaving their wounded as well as horses, mules and equipment.

The American infantry remained in Juarez itself while this was going on and received a protest from the Constitutionalist forces for entering the country without invitation, which was ironic under the situation as they were outnumbered and well on their way to defeat at the time that the Americans intervened.  Indeed, they speant the rest of the battle in their barracks.  The Americans soon  nonetheless withdrew, deeming their mission accomplished.   Three Americans were killed in the battle, Pvt. Fusco, Pvt. Anthony Cunningham of the 24th Infantry and Sgt. Pete Chigas of the 7th Cavalry.

Col. Tommy Tomkins in Juarez, whose brother Frank Tomkins had led American cavalry across the border following the Columbus Raid, and who lead the U.S. Cavalry contingent across the border in the Battle of Juarez. The Tomkins effectively bookended the Border War.

The battle was not only the last battle of the Border War, it was the last battle to be fought by Pancho Villa.  He did not retire thereafter, but instead actually conducted areal warfare through an air corps formed in his service. Although he remained very resentful against the US intervention in the battle, as well as of course earlier American intervention in the Mexican Revolution, he never participated in another battle against American troops and he was not really capable of doing so after the Battle of Juarez.  Villistas may have raided in Arizona as late as 1920, when some Mexican forces attacked Ruby Arizona, but the loyalty of those troops is not known.

Funeral procession for Pvt. Fusco.

While the battle didn't result in Villa's capture and it didn't fully end his activities, for all practical purposes he was done for.  So in a way, the 1919 battle achieved what the 1916 intervention had not.  Villa was effectively destroyed as a force in the field.  Once again, the U.S. Army was frustrated in a desire to capture Villa, but it didn't really matter.  Villa, while sufficiently resurgent to have mounted such a campaign, was not the force he had been earlier in the Mexican Revolution even if the Constituionalist forces in Juarez proved inadequate to contest him.  The American reaction to his presence in Juarez, justified by American troops being in harm's way, ended his career as a serious contender in the Mexican Revolution.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Christ's Episcopal Church, Cody Wyoming.

Churches of the West: Christ's Episcopal Church, Cody Wyoming.:

Christ's Episcopal Church, Cody Wyoming.

In 1965 the Episcopal congregation in Cody replaced their original church with this one, although they kept their historicl structure, which is right next door.

The Best Post of the Week of June 9, 2019

The best posts of the week of June 9, 2019.

Ice. . .

June 11, 1919. Sir Barton wins the Triple Crown.

Heninel Croisilles Road Cemetery, France.

The Hindenburg Line 100 Years Later

New Zealand Tunneling effort at Arras, France

The 2020 Election, Part 1

Lying to Students.

July 14, 1919. Wars and Rumors of War. Villa attacks Juarez, World waits for German decision, AFL protests Prohibition

The Mexican Border War: The Third Battle of Ciudad Juarez. June 15-16, 1919 Part 2.

It's pretty obvious that you are from the Northern Plains if you go to look for a lightweight button up weekend shirt. . .

and you realize you don't own one.

Every button up shirt you have is heavy duty.

The Mexican Border War: The Third Battle of Ciudad Juarez. June 15-16, 1919 Part 2.

And so the day by day, so to speak (with a lot of non posts in between) entries on the Mexican Border War, which commenced with the threads on the attack of Columbus New Mexico in 1916, which I posted in 2016, start to come to an end.

And that's because this was the last battle of the Border War.

The battle commenced very late on the night of June 14 (approximately 11:35) when Villa attempted to take Juarez from the Constitutionalist army, putting the city in contest for at least the third time since 1911 and oddly reprising some of the events that had sent the US into Mexico in in 1916.

The attack was not any kind of a surprise and had been expected for days.  Indeed, the presumption that the attack was going to be launched on June 14, which ultimately it was but only very late at night, resulted in newspaper headlines regarding its delay.  Whatever the source of that delay actually was, it would have done speculators well to recall that Villa liked to attack at night.

The attack on the night of the 14th spread into the next day with the Constitutionalist forces withdrawing towards the city center.  But during the day they recovered and forced Villa back to the eastern part of the city.  In the meantime, the U.S. Army ordered up troops from the 24th Infantry, the 2nd Cavalry, the 82nd Field Artillery and the 8th Engineers to a location near a ford across the Rio Grande in case an American intervention proved necessary.  By daybreak it appeared it would not be, so the troops were ordered back to Ft. Bliss.

The battle was not yet over however.  The Villistas would launch another nighttime assault that night.

Going the other way. . . a reduction in Mexican illegal aliens.

I know the press likes to use other terms, like undocumented, but those other terms have a propagandistic element to it that we try to eschew.  So we'll call Mexicans illegally in the country what they are, illegal aliens.  That's not a moral judgment of any kind.

And the story that's in the news, although deep in the news, is that from the first time since 1965 Mexican illegal aliens are less than half of the illegal aliens in the country.

Now some of that is simply statistical.  They could be left than half of the illegal aliens in the country simply because there are now more illegal aliens from somewhere else. 

But at any rate, it's now the case that 47% of the illegal aliens in the country are from Mexico.

That's big percentage, to be sure, and that means as an overall percentage of the illegal population, they're still the largest demographic.  But the store doesn't end there.

The number of illegal aliens from Mexico has declined by 2,000,000 people in recent years. 

I.e., 2,000,000 Mexicans who came into the country illegally, have gone home. 

And that's a real trend.

It's been ongoing for some time, and indeed it stretches back to some time that's at least as far back as President Obama's presidency.  Which also tells us something.

And that is, is that average Mexican's fortunes have been improving in Mexico. 

The majority of Mexicans, as we've reported before are in the Middle Class. That basically makes Mexico a first world nation.  Sure, it's not Canada, but then, neither is Greece, or Romania, or Portugal. 

Mexico is really coming along, and that's a really good thing.

At the same time, it's facing an immigration crisis of its own, something that's easy to forget in the U.S. The recent flood of immigrants coming across the border from Mexico into the US aren't Mexicans, they're Central Americans.  And before they're a burden on the U.S., they're a burden on Mexico. 

All things worth remembering over a weekend in which we're closing out the story of the Mexican Border War.  The Mexican Revolution started what was the first real waive of Mexican refugees into the United States. When Mexico somewhat stabilized, which wasn't until the 1920s, that slowed down, but it picked back up again during World War Two when immigration policies were changed to encourage Mexican labor to come into the United States.  It slowed again after the war, but with the changes to immigration in the 1970s it rocketed up, just as the economic disparity between the U.S., even in that inflationary era, and a third world Mexico became too great to ignore.

And now it's back down, and we have a first world southern neighbor.