Regan’s book is full of stories like Josseline’s, putting faces on what is mostly statistical information published in newspapers all over the U.S. and Mexico. It is reported that 1,800 humans have lost their lives in the Arizona desert over the last several years, a record 59 in the month of July 2010 in Pinal County, Ariz., alone.

This situation here in the southwestern United States is tragic in every sense of the word. There are no winners, only losers, with the American people and those who wish to become Americans losing the most. The two governments responsible for resolving these life and death issues are not facing up to their responsibility. Mexico can’t or won’t stop the cartels from using the border as their personal highway, and the U.S. government has convinced itself that millions of people, thousands of deaths, and tons of drugs entering our country illegally is somehow a civil rights issue.

Amidst all of this tragedy I find myself at night in the desert training with other men and women for a fight that will almost certainly end in more tragedy. Why do this? At this point we are spotting drug runners, smugglers, or illegals and reporting them to the Border Patrol, preferably without confronting the smugglers. I hope above hope that we will rescue someone like Josseline and make this all worthwhile. The desert is a very tricky and deceiving environment, and I know one of these days we will come face to face with real trouble. That’s the moment I dread the most but that’s what we are mostly training for.

The truth is that there is no know solution, at least not one the America government is willing to use. There are more than 20,000 border patrol agents, 1,200 National Guard, hundreds of local law enforcement officers, FBI and, most likely, CIA agents all over the border. They have technology buried in the ground, cameras stuffed in cactus, night vision technology, encrypted radios, satellites, microwaves, drone, and God knows what else. However, the drug, human smugglers, and illegals just keep coming.

Our government is broken and it does not have the political will to act in our defense, nor does it appear to even recognize its responsibility towards its citizens. Citizens have to decide each for themselves what type of action, if any, they are willing to take. How will history remember the men and women of our generation? Will we be just a footnote to the destruction of America? Or will we be known to the world as the defenders of rightful liberty?

E-mail wgoodnature@gmail.com to comment, or join the discussion at www.austindailyherald.com.

Previous Goodnature columns

Groups aim to take back U.S. border region

Border crisis highlights failures of U.S. leadership

Border problems putting the U.S. at risk