For Immediate Release

He was 47 when he decided to re-enlist in the Army

Every military branch said he was too old.

He held steadfast & finally went to Iraq, and

Helped hunt down the playing card 55

Why in the world would any middle-aged man want to go to war?

When terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, David DeBatto was working as a plain clothes Constable in Haverhill, MA. The 47-year old was outraged as he watched the surreal scenes unfold on television. It had been eight years since DeBatto had been in the Army Reserve, and he was out of shape, but he knew he had to do something. His knowledge in counter-intelligence had to be worth something to the U.S. military.

He immediately contacted his Army Reserve recruiter and tried to re-enlist, but was told that he was too old. He was not discouraged, after all there were six other branches of the military he could approach.

 Over the course of the next five months he pestered recruiters with every military branch, including; active Army, Army National Guard, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Naval Reserve, and finally the Coast Guard Reserve.  They all said the same thing: DeBatto was too old.

Finally, in February of 2002, the Massachusetts Army National Guard approved an age waiver and allowed DeBatto to enlist as a Counterintelligence Special Agent, with one stipulation: he had to pass the physical! He forced through himself to tackle a stiff physical fitness regimen. He went from being unable to walk a half-mile without huffing and puffing, to running two miles in under 17 minutes and he lost over 20 lbs. He was ready for the physical endurance test.

In April, 2002, DeBatto  was formally enlisted into the Guard and he immediately volunteered for assignment to either Afghanistan or language training in Arabic. Neither came through, but in February 2003 when his unit was activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was sent to Balad, Iraq, in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. He would work as a special intelligence agent and would serve as an instructor to new agents and officers.

As a Team Leader of a Tactical Human Intelligence Team (THT), his assignments took him to the heart of the Sunni Triangle, where his team were responsible for tracking down the infamous “55 Playing Card” Iraqi fugitives, high level Ba’ath Party members and top Iraqi military leaders. David developed close working relationships and the trust of several top Iraqi leaders and was able, because of those relationships, to obtain information not available to other America officials, military or civilian.

In October 2003 DeBatto was wounded when his Humvee was ambushed as he was coming back from an intelligence-gathering mission near Balad, Iraq. He spent the next five months in Army hospitals in Iraq, Qatar and the U.S., and was medically discharged in March, 2004.

Since that time, DeBatto has become an interesting guest and much sought after resource for radio and television news and talk programming. Debatto tells it like it is, and his recent expose' on the Abu Ghraib prison torture story is turning heads worldwide:.

Military try to cover-up Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse 3-months before it broke

DeBatto also addresses other timely topics as: the controversial Intelligence Bill,  the troop shortage in Iraq, the problems with training Iraqi's as soldiers, the 8 Army reservists suing because their tour was extended, the U.S. soldiers who escaped court-martial after refusing to go on a supply mission, and the biggest National Security challenge facing the U.S. right now?

Currently DeBatto is writing his story as a four-part fiction series for Warner Books called “CI Team Red: An Army Counterintelligence Novel”, which is due out in May 2005.

A fascinating & informative interview guest...

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