Hire Veterans to Secure U.S. Borders

What big ideas could help America solve its most pressing problems over the next four years? Ahead of Barack Obama's second inauguration, Yahoo solicited some creative, out-of-the-box (but still credible and workable) solutions. Here's one.

COMMENTARY | Many returning U.S. military veterans are coming home to a tough economy and high unemployment rates. In May 2012, the U.S. average unemployment rate was 8.2 percent, but for military veterans the unemployment rate was 12.7 percent. Along with trying to reintegrate into mainstream society, the veterans who are opting out of the military, after honorably serving their country, are facing difficulties finding jobs.

As of September 2010, there were an estimated 22.7 million military veterans in the United States. Of these military veterans, about 1.6 million of them have been deployed to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Finding a job that takes full advantage of veterans' skills and training is next to impossible in the civilian setting. What type of job is there that will allow the veterans to use their training and honed fighting skills while adequately compensating them? The answer could lie in the securing of the U.S. borders.

The unsecured U.S. borders include more than 6,000 miles inland and 2,000 miles of coastline. These 8,000 miles are secured by approximately 21,000 border patrol agents. The unsecured portions of the borders allow for an increase in national security issues due to illegal immigration, drug-trafficking, and terrorists' entry into the country.

While the National Guard and other branches of the military may be assigned to assist with securing the borders this (literally) takes an Act of Congress. And the Congressional Act comes with a deadline, since it is (generally) illegal for the military to enforce civilian laws per the Posse Comitatus Act. The Posse Comitatus Act ensures that there cannot be a permanent military presence at the borders.

The advantages of veterans' security training and teamwork skills were noted by President Obama. In February 2012, Obama requested $6 billion for retraining programs to assist veterans in obtaining jobs with the police, fire, or national park departments. While these are important public service jobs the veterans could easily transition into, none of them takes full advantage of the training and specialized skills our military veterans have.

Hiring veterans as border patrol agents is simpler than hiring someone with no military background. In many cases, the veterans have already passed tests (including physical tests) that are similar to those administered to border patrol recruits. The veterans stand a better chance of passing all that is required of border patrol agent recruits, including security clearances.

Veterans comprise 28.8 percent of border patrol and are highly recruited, having shown themselves to be effective in these positions. Greatly increasing the number of border patrol agents, and the hiring of veterans, would allow the United States to have highly trained security at the borders without violating the Posse Comitatus Act.

Doubling the number of border patrol agents by hiring the veterans would likely decrease the illegal border activity. Border patrol agents' annual salaries are almost equivalent to salaries of military service members. Base starting salary for a new border patrol agent is $38,000 . Annual pay for military service members with three years of military service is about $43,000.

Considering that estimates for federal money paid out to assist illegal immigrants topped $10 billion in one year, even doubling the number of veterans hired as border patrol agents would cost less than 10 percent of this federal money. Investing in veterans at our borders could decrease illegal drug trafficking, terrorist activity, and save money by allowing fewer illegal immigrants into the country.

Along with their specialized training in maintaining security over vast areas, veterans are already trained to work with effective, complicated security "equipment," such as drones and military dogs.

Highly trained military dogs that are retired from the military because they can no longer do their duties are often capable of doing less intense work, such as police duties. Rather than retiring these dogs that are already trained in areas such as sentry duty, we should utilize them with border patrol as well.

There are more than 2,500 military working dogs. Estimates are that there are about 300 dogs per year that are found to be "in excess," which basically means that they have lost their jobs. These dogs could be transitioned into jobs with border patrol.

The 2012-2016 Border Patrol Strategic Plan includes the use of technology in order for them to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. One use of such technology was the use of drones to assist with patrols. One of the issues mentioned by the Department of Homeland Security, regarding the border patrol drone program, was a lack of trained personnel to operate and maintain the drones. Hiring veterans who have previously worked with the drones would easily resolve this issue, with minimal additional expense to the government.

For now, the veteran border patrol agents, drones, and military dogs should be concentrated in near Arizona, Idaho and North Carolina. These are the states that have shown the largest increase in illegal immigrant populations.

Hiring veterans (including military dogs) and utilizing them to the best of their abilities is the least we can do after everything they have done for all of us. Putting them on the borders would also make efficient use of the training the veterans have received over the years.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hire-veterans-secure-u-borders-180000632.html

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