[rstevens]

Does it strike anyone else as odd that this guy would get a couple of Engineering degrees, and then join the Army (in a combat arms unit, no less) as an enlisted man?

Doesn't strike me as odd at all. Many college degreed people join the military service, first as enlisted personnel. Unless they are ROTC students in a program to be commissioned, then they must join the military then go thru OCS to become commisioned officers.

He enlisted and was trained as an engineer and was in an Engineer unit in Kuwait.

What is odd about this?

What I find odd is that the muslim/Islamic chaplains are not being closely watched and investigated. I believe there is now and has been for the past 10 years, an Al Quaida type effort to infiltrate the US Military with Muslim extremists. The DC Sniper is one of several instances.

[applemac_g4]

This does strike me as extremely odd. The armed forces have programs that sends civilians to camp, then OCS and commissions them as an officer; I know several people I graduated with who took this route. Thank God for all the enlisted folks in our military - but it's highly unusual that someone with his academic qualifications would take that route and end up doing what he did.

That says to me that he was more interested in getting close to a combat zone and other troops than getting an engineering desk job far from the front.

[Riley]

Two Engineering degrees is grossly overqualified to be an enlisted combat engineer. I was a Combat Engineer when I was in the Corps. The focus of our training was mine clearing in a contested environment, explosive demolition with offensive and defensive components, defensive minelaying, river crossings with prefabricated bridging elements.

I work with professional engineers now. Most of them were scrambling, putting in the long hours, to pay off their student loans when they started out as engineers.

When I was in the service, I knew a few guys with degrees who were in the ranks, but they were few and far between.

I'm not saying that it is impossible, just a bit strange- particularly in this case.