VIETNAM VET HOLDS VIGIL ON BORDER

ON A HILLTOP NEAR CAMPO, Calif. -- Britt Craig poked his head and a 9
mm pistol out the van's door with a start.

He had been asleep, as were his two "attack cats."

"You surprised me," said Mr. Craig, a member of the California
Minutemen whose two-tone brown van has been a fixture here along the
U.S.-Mexico border since July. "I didn't hear you until you called
out. Neither did the cats, I guess."

A combat-wounded Vietnam veteran, retired commercial fisherman and
songwriter from St. Augustine, Fla., Mr. Craig was among a handful of
armed civilian volunteers manning observation posts last month in the
isolated hills near Campo, Calif., a community of 3,200 on the
U.S.-Mexico border 50 miles east of San Diego.

"If we really want to secure this border, we can do it. It's as
simple as that," said Mr. Craig, 56, sitting atop a 4,500-foot
"commanding view" of the region frequented by smugglers bringing
marijuana, cocaine and heroin to willing buyers in the United States,
and also bringing illegal aliens. "It's just a matter of will," he
said, gently scolding his cat "Janey" for falling asleep on watch.

In the next several weeks, he plans to travel along the entire
U.S.-Mexico border to stand vigil at each place a Border Patrol agent
has died -- starting at the west side of Smugglers Canyon at the
Border Field State Park near San Diego, where Border Patrol Agent
Catherine Hill was fatally injured in April 2003 when her vehicle
rolled off a cliff while she was on patrol.

"These men and women risk their lives every day to protect America,"
said Mr. Craig. "We are out here to support and pay tribute to them
for their efforts."

Mr. Craig's group, the California Minutemen, was organized by James
Chase, one of the founders of the Minuteman Project in Arizona in
April, which successfully fielded nearly 900 civilian volunteers over
a 30-day period to staff observation posts along a 23-mile section of
the Arizona-Mexico border.

Mr. Chase, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker, has since broken
away from the original group, now known as the Minuteman Civil
Defense Corps (MCDC), and has renamed his organization the California
Border Watch. He described the differences in the two groups as
"small," noting that while MCDC volunteers wear only sidearms, he
allows "any legal weapon," which includes rifles and shotguns. He
also said that while MCDC has a policy of no contact with the illegal
aliens they observe, his volunteers are allowed "polite conversation"
and "emergency assistance." "Organizationally MCDC keeps a tight rein
and let a lot of people go for minor issues and personal
disagreements," he said. "I only let people go for racism, violent
tendencies, breaking the law and unethical behavior.

We are more like a family of like minds." Mr. Chase, also a
combat-wounded Vietnam veteran, said he hoped his organization and
similar sister groups across the United States grow in number and,
eventually, field enough civilian volunteers to man posts and conduct
patrols all along the border, both north and south.

Mr. Craig, who was among more than 100 civilian volunteers who signed
up to man observation posts and conduct foot patrols along an
especially rugged 16-mile section of the Mexican border here, said he
operates within the California Border Watch as an independent group,
hoping only to bring national attention to the problem of border security.

"Illegal immigration has become a billion-dollar industry," Mr. Craig
said. "And while some of us might believe that an 'open door' policy
should be pursued, we don't believe those entering the country should
crawl in through the window. "Our rights come from the Constitution
and accepting the civil responsibilities included in that document is
part of being a law-abiding citizen," he said.

Looking somewhat like a pirate with his black eye patch, tousled
blond hair and a swarthy tan gained after four months outdoors, the
former Marine -- who lost an eye after stepping on a mine during
fighting in Vietnam in 1967 -- said the presence of civilian
volunteers along the border to assist federal immigration agents is
"essential" in protecting the United States from terrorists and drug
and alien smugglers. "It's a matter of sovereignty," said Mr. Craig,
whose van sits just three feet inside the makeshift metal fence that
separates the United States and Mexico. "If you don't claim your
right to real estate, you lose it."