text: No doubt about it.  This book covers the history of the Border Patrol.  However, it falls far short of what it ostensibly bills itself and ends up more as a "fluff piece" than anything else.
  
  As someone who has not only served as a Senior Border Patrol Agent (13 years) but also a Border Patrol union president and outspoken critic of the agency, I have studied this agency inside and out without the affects of tunnel vision that typically accompany the job (many say a necessity).  Pacheco, as an active agent (when he wrote the book at least), appears headed in the right direction with the book and then suddenly veers off target.  His somewhat ambiguous message that border security is a difficult task is obviously an attempt to straddle the line (I apologize for the pun) so as not to appear too contentious or controversial.  Did he need to seek agency approval for publication since he was actively employed?  If so, then the credibility issue leaps out and the book is worth the historical content alone if nothing else.  If he did not need agency approval and was truly writing without restraint, then he failed to accurately convey the real state of the Border Patrol and border security.  
  
  Simply put, the Border Patrol, as with most of the Homeland Security subcomponents is disintegrating.  Remember the incompetence of FEMA (a Homeland Security subcomponent)?  Well, multiply that incompetence times ten.  Heard about the poor morale of FEMA employees?  Multiply that problem by one-hundred and you have an accurate picture of the Border Patrol.  A Border Patrol in which the vast majority of otherwise employable agents spend ninety-percent of their time trying to get out.  Those that choose to stay in do so only because of the comparatively worse off agencies in DHS.  The bottom line is that as a former agent, I lose sleep at night knowing what I know.   
  
  Pacheco did cover the rigorous training regimen accurately even if it bordered on propaganda.  That alone may attract candidates to the difficult and completely unrewarding position of U.S. Border Patrol Agent.  The field stories are completely unappealing to anyone who served more than a week in a law enforcement position unless they are reading about their own exploits.  
  
  Read the book for enjoyment and homage.  Just don't expect critical analysis.  In fact, this book would be an enjoyable read at Stewarts Bridge (for you IB agents in San Diego).
  