True Grit – An Interview with Tim “Nailer” Foley of AZBR

There are giants among us. Men and women of true grit that put themselves before those that would seek to do our country harm, like a shield wall. Much like the reluctant anti-heroes in the pages of a Louis L’Amour saga, they do so at great sacrifice to their personal lives. Tim “Nailer” Foley, of the Arizona Border Recon is just one of those giants. In my own personal journey to help restore our great republic I have met the full spectrum of folks. From those that look to tear down and cause strife among the movement to those that talk a great game but never really engage. Then there are those that have done so much that I feel compelled to step up my own game so that I can count myself amongst these doers. It has always been a personal philosophy of mine to try and surround myself with excellence, that I may rise to the level of those around me. There was an axiom that we used all the time while training MMA at the fight gym, “Steel sharpens steel.” When I look for the men and women that would sharpen my own steel I look for people like Tim.

The story of Tim’s stand starts out back before the 2008 crash when he was building high rises. He was the man that the architects handed blueprints to. Running crews of 150 workers, he was living the American Dream. Then the crash of ’08 hit. Like so many other Americans, the floor fell out from under him. He went from making $85,000 a year to collecting $12,000 a year from unemployment. Wherever he searched for work, everywhere he searched for work, he was met with the new economic reality rearing its ugly head. The only work to be found was elusive, at best, paying $10 to $12 an hour, and it was never anything permanent. The more he looked into the situation the more he found the jobs he and other unemployed citizens were looking for had already been taken by illegal aliens who were willing to work for much less. The job market had been saturated.

After this realization, he decided to head down to the border himself to try and take some direct action to help stop this situation. At first, he literally lived out of his truck, locking himself in at night and not getting out no matter what he heard. During the day, he attempted to scout out the paths that the coyotes and smugglers were using. After some time he heard about a group of people with similar interests that gathered nearby. Together, they rented the only house in the area with a roof that wasn’t leaking, however, within 6 months he was the only one left. This is not an easy way of life. It takes grit. On his own, he decided to stay the course and continue alone.

Tim has a military background, having served with the 82nd Airborne as a combat engineer. The vast majority of the skill sets that are needed in this operation, he had to learn on his own. He tells folks that come to volunteer for these operations that it’s great if they have previous military experience, but that they will need to forget what they have been taught and be ready to learn anew as this operation is totally different. He has over 75 cartel scout locations GPS’d and at any given time they have four scouts watching Tim’s residence so they can better coordinate avoiding the AZBR patrols. It is a continually evolving game of cat and mouse. Those that may be interested in participating need to be willing and able to learn any new skill sets on the fly. He is always evolving his tactics. Tim tells me about one of the his favorite, newer tactics to keep their actions hidden from the scouts, a rolling dump, as he calls it. He starts with a truck of patrol members that drive into a cartel scout’s blind spot, while there, the members jump out of the vehicle as the driver continues on as if moving to a different location. This is but one way they can slip the scout’s surveillance.

One of their primary goals is to go after cartel scouts because if you can take them out, then the cartels will be running blind for awhile. Tim calls the scouts “Drug Traffic Control, sitting up high.” The mountains surrounding the this border area range from 4,600 to 5,600 ft., and the scouts prefer these vantage points that give them 200+ square mile view allowing them to see anyone coming into the area for an hour before they get there. Couple this with how border patrol works on shifts and you can see just what an advantage this can be for the cartels.

According to the mainstream media and our federal government, there is nothing to worry about at our southern border, that everything is well in hand. Unfortunately, the average American buys into this lie. The ugly truth is that things are so much worse than we can imagine. In border town after border town the cartels have put the question, “Plata o plomo?”, “Silver or lead?”, of the local government and law enforcement. It seems that the vast majority on the American side are answering silver. We are seeing a epidemic of mayors and sheriffs being busted for narco drug trafficking and money laundering.

I will be writing more on this subject as I continue with a series of articles and videos focusing on our border crisis. In this interview, we go into much more, discussing how people can give their support to the Arizona Border Recon, and how they can apply to be a part of an operation. I run into good people all the time that would like to be a part of an operation where they can make a difference. I would encourage you all to look into supporting the Arizona Border Recon and doing your part to walk tall, and find your own grit!

Please visit www.ArizonaBorderRecon.org for more information and share this article and video out to like minded patriots.

Jason Van Tatenhove

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