Vision

Audio

Time code

Min:sec

V/O

Sunday afternoon in Arizona desert: time for a bit of target practice. Alan is an Iraq war veteran; it looks like he’s never left the combat zone.

00:00

UPSOT (pointing to his body armour)

I carry 5 magazines….1,2,3,4

00:19

V/O

Alan helped launch Veterans on Patrol - they help homeless war veterans and supported by armed, self-styled patriot groups.

00:26

SOT

I am training for a type of event that I will be wearing this [for] 24/7, y’know?

00:35

V/O

He is preparing for all kinds of disasters - including, he says, the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming president.

00:41

SOT

Hillary wants to do everything she humanly can to get rid of firearms. When you take away guns from law abiding citizens, you make it so that people who illegally get guns have free range on the populace.

00:48

V/O

Fears of a government conspiracy to take away guns, views once seen as fringe, are now at the forefront in the presidential campaign. Alan and his friend Montana run through synchronised military drills - they’re ready to defend their community by whatever means necessary.

01:00

Montana, Showing his knives

If somebody’s trying to start a fight or attack me, then this gives them a pretty good reason to rethink their life’s choices.

01:26

V/O

The two men used to work as private security contractors along this border with Mexico, and so have seen the problems of drugs and illegal immigration first hand.

01:33

SOT - ALAN IN THE CAR

This is Mexico on your right, US on your left. There is no more fence, there is nothing. There is just trees and bush.

01:43

V/O

The handful of guards operating here are unable to cope with tens of thousands of people crossing illegally from Mexico each year. Many are searching for jobs, but some work for the cartels. Some Civilian Militias who patrol here have taken matters into their own hands, detaining Mexicans at gunpoint. It’s here that Trump wants to build his wall.

01:54

Alan

- I will vote for Trump because of the fact that he is going to do something about this border. He sees the problem.

- You believe him?

- I see Trump, yes, opening his mouth and saying some things which to some people might constitute bigotry and constitute as racism. I see it as he wants to shed light on a problem that a lot of people are choosing not to look at.

02:19

SOT Montana - cappuccino

They are going to look up from their cappuccino inside a coffee shop in the middle of New York City and say ‘I don’t see anything, they must not know what they are talking about.’ It does not affect them.

02:41

TUSCON / VETS camp

V/O

From the border, the trail of undocumented people and drugs leads to Tucson. The brutal Mexican drugs cartels have put down roots across this city. Gang crime and drugs linked violence leaves residents feeling scared and vulnerable. Alan’s organisation, Veterans On Patrol, runs this camp for homeless vets.

03:00

VET

Harley is actually a seizure dog.

03:28

V/O

At least one in 10 adults in Tuscon are former soldiers.

03:31

UPSOT VET

Out there on the streets, you don’t get treated right. You get spat on. Called every name in the book…’baby killer’, cos I was in ‘Nam.

03:34

V/O

These men fought for America in Vietnam and Iraq. They feel they’ve been abandoned by the authorities...

03:44

SOTS

Doc, Military Vet

You’ve got your drugs dealers that come across, you’ve got your illegals that come across…

03:52

Black Vet

We have drugs and rapists and guns here already, we don’t need more of it.

03:57

V/O

The vets told me how they feel intimidated by the illegal immigrants who sleep rough in the park just blocks away. Two marginalised groups - with little help or support - pitted against each other.

04:03

SOT

Doc, a veteran

“It’s just a very unsecured area…that something needs to be done…”

04:17

Inigo

You’re aware that in other parts of America when they talk about places like Airzona, they say people are paranoid, Donald Trump is whipping them up into a frenzy.

04:23

SOT, Doc

Well absolutely, let them come down here and live by the border and see what actually happens.

04:29

V/O

The vets feel they need armed protection at this camp - and the fear that Hillary Clinton will take their guns away is just one reason these men are so against her. They also see her as corrupt and untrustworthy.

04:36

SOT

Doc

Hilary needs to be in prison.

04:51

UPSOT Inigo

Maybe executed?

04:54

Doc

Prison. I’m not going to go that route. But she needs to be in prison - she’s a criminal across the board.

04:56

V/O

While Hillary Clinton may claim that she, rather than Trump, is a champion of military veterans, among this group of vets, she’s deeply despised.

05:02

URBAN PATROL - Phoenix

V/O

Two hours away in Phoenix, another branch of Veterans On Patrol is about to hit the streets. But first their leader Lewis is doing a live broadcast on Facebook to his followers.

05:13

UPSOT

Lewis “Our teams that come out with us, they do carry weapons, but they’re trained and they’re responsible. “

05:25

V/O

Lewis explains how they try to stop crime - including patrolling the red light district.

05:30

Lewis SOT

Our teams walk down the streets. So there’s the girls and the guys and as they see us coming, you would see the transactions break up, and the girl would go one way and the guy would go another because they thought we were cops.”

05:36

V/O

Today Veterans on Patrol are being backed up by an armed citizens group called ‘the 3 percenters’. They have thousands of members nationwide.  They call themselves a patriot movement - but their critics see them as anti-government militia.

05:46

PATROL SEQUENCE

V/O

The patrol sets out - first stop: the ‘Golden Arches’… Its an odd sight, seeing armed civilians in a Mcdonald's, but, in Arizona, openly carrying guns is legal.

06:04

V/O

And they operate with the approval of the local police. One office stops for a friendly chat. They’ve gone out to help the homeless, giving out food and medical help. But not everyone in town welcomes them.

06:20

Passer-by “I just thought you guys were Nazis or something.”

06:38

“Sometimes they think we’re Nazis”

06:41

Passer-by “What do you guys call yourselves”

06:44

“There’s ‘Veterans on patrol’ and then ‘the Arizona 3 percenters.’”

06:45

V/O

The irony of an all white armed patrol operating with police blessing is not lost on some here.

06:49

SOT black passer-by

“I think if I had a gun on my hip – like, openly – I think if I went to people’s neighbourhoods, people would call the police right away.”

06:56

V/O

He’s able to laugh this one off but America is on edge. In this increasingly fraught atmosphere, Allan has many fears – civil unrest being just one of them.

07:07

BACK GARDEN - prepping for Armageddon

07:16

Alan

Some type of third party attack, let’s say – whether that be Muslim extremists, whether that be a collapse of the federal government, whether that be some type of dirty bomb in the United States. You know what I mean? Especially now with the elections you’ve got two totally different parties, entities – one believes in the complete opposite of what I believe and the other is so extreme to the right that it’s pretty scary. Our ideologies are so different I feel that it just would cause a war. 

07:25

V/O

He’s taking no chances. Like tens of thousands here, he’s a ‘prepper’ - people who stock pile food and weapons.

07:56

Alan

That’s an entire Cosco thing of hotdogs

08:04

V/O

He tells me that he and his friends have also hidden a million bullets in the desert.

08:09

UPSOT Inigo

Where do you go and bury them?

08:16

Alan

That’s none of your business.

08:17

V/O

Alan pulls out some biscuits he’s been storing for some time.

08:20

Alan

Are you allergic to coconut or anything?

08:25

UPSOT Inigo

We’ll find out

08:28

Alan

*Eating biscuit* That’s 10 years old

08:35

UPSOT Inigo

10 years old. So if Armageddon happens, this is what you’ll turn to? This is what will keep you going?

08:39

Alan

This is one thing, yeah.

08:42

V/O

And so they’re preparing for Armageddon – whatever that may be. What’s certain is that there will be plenty of anger if Hilary Clinton is elected. Less clear is what – if anything – her enraged opponents might actually do. 

08:44