This Is A Caltrop
There are many like it, but it is my caltrop. In fact, before I was introduced to the innovative genius of caltrops, I (and a good number of Journeyman Agents) carried bricks.
The first time I witnessed a brick in use was just after I graduated from the Academy. I had been assigned to Joe as a supervising/training Agent for a two week period of 4P to 12MN shift. One evening, Joe and I were driving from Point A to Point B when a call came over the radio that someone had just "run the port" in a van with no windows.
Since we were fairly nearby, Joe instructed me to pull off into the desert and away from the road. He wanted to wait for the van and I could tell that he was really hungry to catch it and see what was inside. My mind raced. Dope? People? Both? I was stoked and so was Joe.
Sure enough, the van topped a rise in our direction and I started the Ramcharger. As soon as the van was close, I inched-out toward the hard surface road. Just after the van passed, I stomped it and we were off. I lighted-up the reds. He didn't stop. I flashed the headlingts and sounded the horn (our desert vehicles didn't have sirens). He still didn't stop.
Joe instructed me to pull along side of the van. I did what I was told. When we were even with him, Joe leaned out the passenger window and yelled at the guy to pull over. The driver flipped Joe off and simply kept looking straight ahead.
It was then that Joe instructed me to pull forward enough so that Joe would be even with the van's front bumper. In the time it had taken me to do that, Joe had reached into his trique bag on the floor and extracted a brick. He threw it out his window. The brick impacted the van's windshield at about eighty miles an hour and the whole affair spiderwebbed. The van finally stopped and we were able to find the drugs that the driver desperately tried to keep us from finding.
A few months later, some of us were talking with another Agent from a Sector farther to our West. This guy had been a New York City police officer before he had gone to the Border Patrol Academy. He told us about caltrops and how he believed them to be much more effective than bricks. After giving it some thought, we had to agree with him.
Naturally no Chief Patrol Agent will ever want to know that his Agents carry them. He will probably also never admit that he carried them when he worked the Line.
There are many like it, but it is my caltrop. In fact, before I was introduced to the innovative genius of caltrops, I (and a good number of Journeyman Agents) carried bricks.
The first time I witnessed a brick in use was just after I graduated from the Academy. I had been assigned to Joe as a supervising/training Agent for a two week period of 4P to 12MN shift. One evening, Joe and I were driving from Point A to Point B when a call came over the radio that someone had just "run the port" in a van with no windows.
Since we were fairly nearby, Joe instructed me to pull off into the desert and away from the road. He wanted to wait for the van and I could tell that he was really hungry to catch it and see what was inside. My mind raced. Dope? People? Both? I was stoked and so was Joe.
Sure enough, the van topped a rise in our direction and I started the Ramcharger. As soon as the van was close, I inched-out toward the hard surface road. Just after the van passed, I stomped it and we were off. I lighted-up the reds. He didn't stop. I flashed the headlingts and sounded the horn (our desert vehicles didn't have sirens). He still didn't stop.
Joe instructed me to pull along side of the van. I did what I was told. When we were even with him, Joe leaned out the passenger window and yelled at the guy to pull over. The driver flipped Joe off and simply kept looking straight ahead.
It was then that Joe instructed me to pull forward enough so that Joe would be even with the van's front bumper. In the time it had taken me to do that, Joe had reached into his trique bag on the floor and extracted a brick. He threw it out his window. The brick impacted the van's windshield at about eighty miles an hour and the whole affair spiderwebbed. The van finally stopped and we were able to find the drugs that the driver desperately tried to keep us from finding.
A few months later, some of us were talking with another Agent from a Sector farther to our West. This guy had been a New York City police officer before he had gone to the Border Patrol Academy. He told us about caltrops and how he believed them to be much more effective than bricks. After giving it some thought, we had to agree with him.
Naturally no Chief Patrol Agent will ever want to know that his Agents carry them. He will probably also never admit that he carried them when he worked the Line.
