Don't get me wrong: These four members of the Tennessee National Guard followed their orders to the letter, and that's how a well-disciplined military unit should always conduct itself, "Tennessee Guardsmen to get honor after border incident," Tennessean, Jan. 21.

"They were to pull back, contact the border patrol and the border patrol would come and make the needed apprehension or investigate the situation. The Tennessee National Guardsmen are not there as law enforcement."

But here's where I become confused. The Guard has often been used to "enforce the law," as they did in certain U.S. cities (including Chicago) following the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. And certainly during the 1965 riots in Watts, Calif. If the Guard was ordered to enforce the law in these urban areas, why not the same mission when patrolling our border with Mexico? The last time I looked the president of the United States has the power to suspend the Posse Comitatus Act. But that requires, well, you know, testículos.