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Jeffrey R Orenstein, Ph.D.'s avatar

Great story Mark! You are an excellent journalist.

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Marc R. Masferrer's avatar

Thank you!

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Karen Carpenter's avatar

Thank you for sharing your frontline experience and am

Happy you lived to tell the tales.

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Sandy Tudor's avatar

I just watched a documentary on the Smithsonian Channel on Waco. They even interviewed Rod Aydelotte. Showed initial raid and final raid. Dark days.

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Marc R. Masferrer's avatar

Rod is a great photographer who captured many of the iconic images from the first day of the standoff and beyond. (He also was the photographer at my wedding!)

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S Keever's avatar

Thanks for sharing your story and contribution to this memorable and terrifying moment in our history. I had no idea you were there!

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William Anderson's avatar

Excellent!

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Feb 26, 2023
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Marc R. Masferrer's avatar

The photo was taken by Rod Aydelotte, long-time photo editor at the Tribune-Herald. He crawled out of the ditch a couple of times when it was quiet to see what was happening and was able to take the photo with this article. Before we all jumped in the ditch, Rod was able to get some shots of ATF agents outside Mount Carmel. And after the shooting stopped and we walked away, Rod also captured several photos of wounded agents retreating. (He later was the photographer at my wedding!)

I had met that lawyer, Wayne Martin, a few weeks before the ATF raid and the start of the standoff. He was an associate of another lawyer I knew, a member of the Waco City Council, which was my beat at the time. I knew who he was and his link to the Branch Davidians (and the stories my colleagues were working on.) We kept it cordial

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