Bill Buford: Surviving Waco & a Lifetime in Law Enforcement

Featured Interview (37:06) Retired ATF Agent Bill Buford has lived a law enforcement career that sounds almost impossible.

A Vietnam-era Green Beret, Buford went on to become an ATF agent and SRT team leader. Before Waco, he had already been shot multiple times and seriously wounded during an arrest. Then, on February 28, 1993, he and his team were sent into the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

What followed was one of the most violent days in the history of federal law enforcement.

Bill takes us inside that day from the perspective of someone who was actually there. He talks about the loss of three members of his own 12-man Arkansas team, being shot multiple times himself, fighting his way out of the compound, and the incredible actions of the agents who fought alongside him.

But this interview goes far beyond Waco.

Bill talks about growing up in Kansas City, becoming a Green Beret, his Vietnam service, how he ended up at ATF almost by accident, building an SRT team, the importance of training and peer support, losing his friend and protégé Robert Williams at Waco, and continuing his law enforcement career long after that day.

It's an incredible conversation with a man who has spent his life serving his country and protecting others.

And, somehow, after everything he's been through, Bill is still planning to go bear hunting with a crossbow.

We were honored to have him tell his story.