From: chance wolf (chance_wolf@shaw.ca)
Date: Mon May 10 2004 - 14:45:36 PDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Shaw" <mpmutt@mtaofnj.us>
To: "'chance wolf'" <chance_wolf@shaw.ca>
Cc: "Military Vehilcle List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 1:21 PM
Subject: RE: [MV] Homeland Security Needs Your Help
> The Customs Border Guards are not ussually MV collectors. They are just
> Law Enforcement officers trying to do a tough job with the rules they
> are given. It does no good to argue with them. You will just get in
> deeper and deeper.
In my experience, the 50 yr. old ex-military types at the border with
experience under their belts and at least a single serving of common sense
are able to enforce the rules and regulations efficiently without treating
you like a terrorist. While it's obvious that we all begin our careers
somewhere, and that that 20-somethings in charge of that spot-check would
not have the benefit of my typical 50 yr.old's experience - there's not
really any reason why that 50 yr. old couldn't be there in a
supervisory/on-the-job-training capacity to help the younger members become
more efficient in useful directions.
> RT 524 and RT 246 are no longer permitted to civilians in the USA.
In Wisconsin, pallet loads were recently sold by GL/DRMO after having their
A2000 modules and PA tube removed as part of an authorized Demil process.
To civilians. Fair Radio Sales had them for years. I can name four dealers
selling them now. One is even allowed by the State Dept. to sell them to
Canadians.
> If you want to come to the USA
> do not bring US type or design commo gear over the border. Save
> yourself the trouble. You are lucky you still have the stuff.
I will quite probably do exactly that, and yes, I could see where things
could've gone the other way.
> I know everyone is thinking what about all the ones already out there.
> I don't have an answer for that.
"Innocent until proven guilty" has worked well in free societies for
generations. I see no reason to change now.
> The M1009 is still (had to believe I know) a current used vehicle by
> the US Army all over the country but IT IS allowed to be owned as is by
> a civilian. It is not on the SME list, but there is a move by a certain
> Senator to ban all camo paint jobs.
I think you're confusing items requiring an EUC certificate with those "not
allowed to be owned by civilians". CUCV vehicles are not currently subject
to EUC certificates through GL sales, while deuces etc. are.
Interestingly, an 800 series cargo truck is an EUC item, where the bridging
truck version of the same animal is not. They're identical save for a few
extra feet of steel and a roller on its butt.
> I guess the easiest way to come to the US to rallies (although it sounds
> like you probably don't want to do that again) is to make sure that you
> do NOT have any commo gear from approx 1970 on, no weapons including
> dummies, no cammo clothing to be worn at the border crossing, and no
> items of other classes on the SME list. Using these pointers as a guide
> you will have a much easier time during these difficult days.
I appreciate your suggestions in the spirit in which they were given, but
"these difficult days" and "a burgeoning climate of irrational paranoia"
cannot be allowed to become synonyms in relations between friendly
neighbours and traditional allies simply because everyone's too afraid to
ask that a bit of common sense enter into the picture. Blindly nodding "Big
Brother Knows Best" over stuff like this is not a path any country should be
happy to hurtle down - yours or ours.
> Don't forget that Congress has been entertaining the idea of banning the
> private ownership of all military vehicles and ex ambulances, and ex
> police cars due to the fear that they can be used by terrorists to help
> pull off an attack. I don't think we should stir this one up too much
> if you get the drift.
That's valid from a certain point of view which fails to take into account
the current *actuality* of the owners they're talking about without having m
et any of them, but these folks also need to see us "out there" at Veteran's
parades, civic events, air shows, campouts, club drives and other similar
functions in the public eye so they can see the kids gawk open-mouthed as we
drive by in things they've made models of, or seen on TV, or seen pics of
Grandpa driving in Korea or Dad in Vietnam. That's what we are. That's
what we do. That's what puts the "Preservation" in "Preservation Society"
both in terms of the vehicles and ancillary equipment as inanimate objects,
and "Preservation" of the public's right to see the things doing what
they've done for years both in Peace and War. It's part of their History,
part of their Heritage, and part of so many individual lives throughout the
decades that it's impossible to quantify.
To prove criminality in a court of law you need the Holy Triumverate of
Means, Motive and Opportunity. Quaint and eccentric collectors spending
volumes of their own loot just to gain the smile of some kid or veteran in a
parade might well provide the first of those for the Rottweilers to sink
their teeth into, but not the others. It's the difference between simply
owning a rifle and going on a murder spree. Restricting the rights and
freedoms of an entire nation for what a few bent individuals *might* do is a
trade-off I think most of us would like to think about very, very seriously
indeed before actively making - yet some seem content to allow it by
shrugging default.
> So I hope that you have an easier time in the future here when visiting
> our country and give the guys in uniform a break. They are just doing
> the best they can out there. As far as being in the computer I didn't
> check on that but you can be sure you are after that encounter.
I think you and I both know that the vast majority "are doing the best they
can", but the ones who are not need to be made aware of it, and sorted out
by their supervisors. That's how it was when I was in the Reserves; that's
how it is with most Police Forces; and that's how it has to be with any
Government Agency operating on behalf of The People in a democratic nation.
Yours *and* ours.
Fear cannot be allowed to become a chief legislational motivator or neither
of us will much like where the road ends 15-20 yrs down the line. That much
I know. History provides many examples by way of illustration.
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