Borderline: Defending the Home Front

by Vincent Vargas, Jocko Willink Narrated by Jocko Willink, Vincent Vargas

Overview

An inside look at the U.S./Mexican border through the eyes of former U.S. Border Patrol agent, Vincent Vargas, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.

This program is read by the author and features a foreword written and read by #1 New York Times bestselling author Jocko Willink.

The U.S./Mexican border stretches nearly 2,000 miles and is protected by a thin line of overworked and underfunded U.S. Border Patrol Agents, who risk their lives every day. Stigmatized in the media and fought over in the halls of Washington D.C., this is the true story of what is really happening on the U.S./Mexican border.

Borderline provides an inside look through the eyes of former U.S. Border Patrol agent, Vincent Vargas, who is no stranger to violence, having served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.

The story begins on the battlefields of the Middle East and culminates on the southwest border of the United States, where Vargas was tasked with protecting his country, his fellow agents, and the immigrants caught in the middle. He learned firsthand about the unforgiving brutality of the cartels, human traffickers and the desert.

After bearing witness to the carnage, Vargas made the decision to join the Border Patrol's elite search & rescue unit called BORSTAR.

With almost unfettered access, Vargas provides an in-depth, never-before-seen look into the U.S. Border Patrol, from the agency's origins to its present-day missions.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

We take our borders for granted—but we shouldn’t. People serve and sacrifice every day, in the harshest of environments, facing dynamic situations, with little or no back up. These people are our Border Patrol—and Borderline is their story.” —Jocko Willink, #1 Bestselling Author

"Guarding the borders of the United States, and thereby protecting the citizenry, falls to a relatively small and often misunderstood federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more commonly referred to as the Border Patrol, is the country’s first line of defense. It is comprised of dedicated Americans who put their lives on the line while being maligned in the press and by politicians with agendas at odds with the safety and security of the very constituents they represent. That rhetoric and those policies put the lives of the brave men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol in greater danger, yet they get up each day to hold the line for us all. Powerful, insightful, and thought-provoking, Borderline by Vincent Vargas is a must read for every American. Before you make a snap judgement about the Border Patrol based on a sound bite, take the time to understand the agency and get to know those who are charged with protecting the nation through the pages of Borderline." —Jack Carr, former Navy SEAL Sniper, host of the Danger Close Podcast, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of the James Reece Terminal List series

"Vargas writes empathetically about the plight of beleaguered migrants, emphasizing the violence and human toll beneath the controversy...a useful insider’s perspective regarding the border crisis." —Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

2023-10-13
A retired veteran’s laudatory look at the culture and history of the U.S. Border Patrol.

In his debut, Vargas combines memoir with an overview of the Border Patrol’s tactics and training and the misunderstandings the agency’s mission provokes. “Border Patrol agents are not ‘rogue cowboys’ doing whatever they want to at the border,” he writes. “Rather, they are individuals charged with holding the line while leveraging their extensive training and long apprenticeship.” Of Mexican and Puerto Rican ancestry, the author grew up near the southern border in California. As a child, he was aware of the long-simmering migration crisis, later joining the military and becoming an Army Ranger. Noting his determination to continue in government service, “I wouldn’t have signed up if I wasn’t willing to protect others by sacrificing myself.” Vargas passionately pursued the Border Patrol’s rigorous requirements for achieving Journeyman status, and he also sought to join one of their lesser-known elite tactical units, BORSTAR, a trauma-response unit created in 1998 “in response to the growing number of injuries to Border Patrol agents and migrant deaths along our nation’s borders.” He wanted to address a lack of integration between these specialized teams: “The basic question was this: Should I go tactical or medical?” Vargas bolters his account with the recollections of other agents, including his teams’ takedown of the Uvalde school shooter in 2022: “Border Patrol agents were the ones who finally brought it to an end and likely saved many lives.” Vargas writes empathetically about the plight of beleaguered migrants, emphasizing the violence and human toll beneath the controversy. While the author’s discussion of the border’s grim social tableau is often balanced, his defensive tone may grow tiresome to some readers.

Containing a useful insider’s perspective regarding the border crisis, this book will appeal to fans of military memoirs.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178332719
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	11/14/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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