I believe there's a pistol in that holster.Pat "Patman" Brasington worked summers and as a full-year program staff member in the years around 1986-88 - so Chris Dundorf, who circulated around then too, reminds me. Chris sent me a link to a Slate article about Pat, who is now a ranger for the Bureau of Land Management, and he patrols the Sonoran Desert National Monument, 496,000 acres of heartbreakingly beautiful and lonely desert an hour southwest of Phoenix and 70 miles, as the crow flies, from the border. Carrying a gun in this arid place is a long way from working environmental ed in the green round Catskills. And yet of course Pat's FV experience has served him well. The Slate article is about the U.S.-Mexico border wars. Here's part of the article:
Brasington and I are walking out of a wash in a remote section of the monument, and I'm there when his posture changes from relaxed, with his rifle slung on his back, to slightly bent at the chest, rifle forward, finger on the trigger guard. It's the classic infantryman's patrol position. We hit the top, and he relaxes. I point out his change in posture, and he just looks at me.Here's a link to the Slate piece.
"You know," he says, "I didn't even know I did that. It's just instinct I guess, from working out here."
We walk in silence for a minute, and Brasington starts talking.
"When I came here, I used to complain about the cows. They left pies everywhere, they cut trails through what should have been a wilderness area. Now I've got foot traffic and smugglers and someone potentially laying under any tree on the monument, and I have to wonder how they'll react when they see me, because they're not supposed to be in this country."
Brasington's a pretty positive, cheerful guy. But his voice gets an edge to it on this topic.
