July 6, 1962
Captain Jose Delgado’s soldier story is the embodiment of Army values. A 1985 Distinguished Military Graduate of the University of Puerto Rico’s Reserved Officer Training Corps program, CPT Delgado served as the S-2 (intelligence officer) of 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) during Operation Desert Storm. In that capacity, CPT Delgado identified a potentially catastrophic oversight: a trench line assessed as “unoccupied” in the designated landing zone for the battalion’s air-assault into Forward Operating Base Cobra on February 24, 1991. He challenged higher-level assumptions, dug deeper into intelligence reporting, and raised the alarm that his Regiment was on the verge of inserting troops into a potentially dangerous area. His Battalion Commander convinced the 1st Brigade commander to ultimately adjust the landing zone two kilometers away—an action that likely spared heavy casualties when a battalion‐sized Iraqi force engaged his battalion from that very trench line.