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On Christmas Eve, 2002 M/SGT Chris Dwiggins "El Dwiggo", as he was known world wide, left this earth. A heart attack accomplished what bad guys in 1/2 the world could not. What does one say about Chris? He was a Special Forces team medic in Viet Nam. He was a registered nurse. He was an expert in so many fields, the list to long (and some classified) to list it all. Three years ago at the N.T.I. he and Dr. Mike Schertz (also an ex s.f medic) saved a man with a gun shot wound from bleeding to death. The emergency room doctors later said it was an unsurvivable wound even if it had happened in the emergency room, yet Chris and Mike pulled it off. He made Gunsite what it is today from an operational training standpoint. It will never be the same or hold the same meaning to us as when he was there. He was known world wide for his loud Hawaiian shirts, diet Pepsi, and 1911 pistols. He was never without any of the above as he went about his duties. As a close friend said, "You can take him out, but you could not dress him up." He was a trainer, a warrior, a proud soldier who served his country for amost 30 years. He was always there when you needed him, and he cared about all of us, the people who knew him. But most of all he was our friend. He was a warrior- he will be missed. "Airborne - Sir!!" |
.45 brass under the headstone seemed more fitting than flowers
(Thanks J.A.)