FBI Special Agent Samantha Mikeska grew up admiring the police characters she saw on TV shows such as "Hawaii Five-0" and "Dragnet." But her path to becoming a member of the world's elite law enforcement agency took all sorts of twists and turns before she entered the FBI training academy in Quantico, Va. "I always wanted to be in law enforcement, but during the 1980s many people still viewed the profession as man's work and not for women," Mikeska said. After joining the FBI, the 45-year-old agent nearly lost her life seven years ago during an operation at the Sunland Park-Anapra border that left her seriously injured. Yet, every step of the way, Mikeska managed to muster the strength and will to overcome the adversities life threw her way. "It's the way I was brought up ...," she said. After Mikeska graduated from high school, she won a golf scholarship that enabled her to attend Texas Tech University. She switched later to Texas A&M in College Station, where she began her agricultural studies. There, she changed her major to accounting and received a bachelor's degree in business administration and accounting. The degree allowed her to pursue work as a staff accountant for a Texas hospital. Although she did a good job, her heart wasn't in it. "One day, after I saw the husband of a co-worker in his police uniform, I decided that's what I really wanted to do," she said. She applied to become a reserve officer in the Bryan, Texas, police department Advertisement

and was accepted. She completed the training, and discovered she had found her calling. "I loved it. I felt that I could help other people," Mikeska said. "You get a great sense of self worth when you hear people, 'Thank God, the police are here.'" Back then, however, she never imagined she would one day play a lead role in the FBI's groundbreaking investigation into the Barrio Azteca gang in El Paso, a far cry from the fictional characters she had followed on the TV screen. The Barrio Azteca gang, which began with a handful of Texas prison inmates in 1986, was investigated for cocaine trafficking in El Paso and Doa Ana counties. The investigation, a dangerous one that is ongoing, linked the gang's activities to the Jurez drug cartel, which has carried out hundreds of kidnappings and murders in Jurez during the past 15 years. David Cuthbertson, the FBI Special Agent in Charge in El Paso, had several things to say about his agent. "Samantha Mikeska is an excellent special agent who exemplifies hard work, dedication and sacrifice," he said. "She has worked tirelessly on the Barrio Azteca investigation, while at the same time, performing collateral duties such as SWAT assistant team leader and acting supervisor. "She serves as a role model for the younger agents we have in the office, sharing the depth of her investigative experience and showing what fidelity, bravery and integrity really mean on a day in, day out basis." Mikeska got an early glimpse into the notorious gang during her Mobile Enforcement Team deployment with the Drug Enforcement Administration. FBI officials said the DEA team was sent to El Paso in 2000 to crack down on street-level heroin distribution, and the target was the Barrio Azteca gang. The team included agents and officers from various federal, state and local agencies. "I saw back then exactly what they were involved in," she said. As as result of the investigation into the gang, which Mikeska is quick to point out involved several U.S. law enforcement agencies in the region, officials managed to disrupt the Azteca's hierarchy. Last year, federal prosecutors used the Racketeer Influence and Corruption Organizations Act to convict five gang leaders, who were sentenced in April to life in prison. Most recently, U.S. officials announced that Eduardo "Tablas" Ravelo, a Barrio Azteca leader and a fugitive, has been placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. Danger is not new to FBI agents who work in border regions. During the FBI's 1999 binational "mass graves" investigation in Jurez, the Carrillo Fuentes cartel offered rewards of up to $250,000 for the deaths of the FBI officials who were in charge of the U.S. side of the investigation. "The position I take is that this is all business," Mikeska said. "I have nothing personal against the gang members. They understand that if they get caught, then we arrest them. We have a job to do, and they know it. It's nothing personal. But, I do watch my back all the time." Frank Evans, a former FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge, said "Samantha is one of the most dynamic and one of the best agents I have had the privilege to work with or supervise." Seven years ago, the agency awarded Mikeska the FBI Star Medal for her role in the 2002 night operation that targeted train thieves from Mexico who operated along the border. Something went wrong during the operation that involved 60 U.S. federal agents and train police officers. Across the border, although dozens of Mexican city police officers and federal customs agents stood by to help, it was the Anapra gang members who got the upper hand. Mikeska and another FBI agent were brutally beaten by the alleged thieves with sticks, rocks and a baseball bat before a fellow agent fired a round that scared off the attackers. The injuries Mikeska sustained included a fractured orbital bone of the left eye and cheek bone, which caused a retinal hemorrhage, a fractured vertebrae, a ruptured cervical disk, cuts to the face and severe bruises all over her body from the beating. Mikeska returned to work less than six weeks later. Her reminders of the attack are seven plates and two pins in her left eye area, and a plate and four screws in her neck. Six years ago, Carlos Enrique Garcia-Castillo and Carlos Ivan Aguirre, both of Mexico, confessed to beating the FBI agents. Each was sentenced in 2003 to two years in prison, three years of supervised probation and ordered to pay $76,000 in restitution. In October, Mikeska was honored by the Federal Executive Association of El Paso with the organization's Law Enforcement Award, in recognition of her work on the Barrio Azteca investigation. During a break, she said a typical day for her starts off with two cups of coffee and a power candy bar for breakfast. She admits real-life law enforcement is not exactly the way TV shows or Hollywood portray it to be. "For example, we don't have all those cool toys they use to solve crimes with," she said. Mikeska said her entire life revolves around her work as an FBI agent. "You might have your day all planned out, and as soon as you walk into the office, things come up and those plans quickly fall apart," she said. "After putting in my day, I try to get a workout in to stay in shape. I've been told I need a balance in my life, but my work is all I do and think about all the time. "The way I see it, it's what the taxpayers pay me to do. My work is to help make the community a safe place for families to raise their families in."