Two Novice Gumshoes Charted The Capture Of Saddam Hussein

Wall Street Journal via Early Bird ^ | December 18,2003 | Farnaz Fassihi, Staff Reporter Of The Wall Street Journal

[Blood of Tyrants]

Too bad. He looks to be excellent officer material.

[CPL Engstrom]

Hey thanks, reading through all the comments and banter has been great. Yes, I joined at 34 and could not get an age waiver for OCS, so I enlisted. My next step to become a Warrant Officer candidate. After seeing what the officers do, I think I would prefer it anyways. Our CW2 does the most "pure" intel work out of all of us.
And yes, LT Santana was prior enlisted; made it to E7 then decided to go officer. Yeah, the two of us are really the most atypical soldiers in the S2.
But hey, when terrorists attack your homeland, you do what needs to be done. Officer or enlisted, nothing was going to hold me back from answering "the call."

[68skylark]

CPL, I loved this story when it first came out. I haven't been back to the story for months, but recently re-visited for some reason. Imagine my surprise to find your note at the bottom!

I'm very impressed with what all our soldiers have been doing in Iraq. But what you and Lt Santana did was way above and beyond in my opinion -- I hope the Army has expressed the same thing to both of you.

My military service has had some very unconventional twists -- after some prior service as an officer I've re-entered the enlisted ranks and I volunteered for Iraq. I've been inspired to do this by a lot of the people I've met and the stories from Iraq -- this story among them. Great work!

[deadmanwalkin32]

it shouldn't matter what their ages are they did what they were ordered to to do. besides the CPL. HAPPENS TO BE "MY BROTHER-IN-LAW and I'AM PROUD OF HIM regardless of his age

[deadmanwalkin32]

it shouldn't matter what their ages are they did what they were ordered to to do. besides the CPL. HAPPENS TO BE "MY BROTHER-IN-LAW and I'AM PROUD OF HIM regardless of his age