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HUACHUCA CITY — His normal duty would be with submarines, but a local man would rather be taking the fight to the enemy on the ground.
During a recent telephone call from Kabul, Afghanistan, former Huachuca City resident Duane W. Dickinson said he always wants to be “as close to the situation that I can to accomplish the most that I can.”
The Texas native said he has an attitude of justice about Sept. 11, 2001.
“I didn’t like what happened,” he said. “My direct outlook has always been, if you come after the United States, come after us in uniform. If you want to pick a fight with someone, pick a fight with someone who can fight back.”
 Duane W. Dickinson is a petty officer, first class, who serves as an electronics technician/navigation in the U.S. Navy. (Photo courtesy of the Dickinson family) |
Duane is not the kind of person to draw attention to himself. The phone call from the Afghan time zone, which is a bizarre 11.5 hours ahead of Cochise County, was prompted by his father and mother, George and Zborill “Donna” Dickinson of Huachuca City.
George recently came to the Herald/Review, expressing both pride and fear for his son, who has already completed a tour in Iraq. He arranged for his son to call the newspaper.
“He doesn’t even have to be there,” the father said. “Twice he has volunteered to get in the front line stuff.”
Duane is a 2000 graduate of Tombstone High School, but he completed his studies in December 1999 to enter the U.S. Navy. He reported for duty in February 2000.
Today he wears two hash marks on his uniform, each representing four years in the service. He is a petty officer, first class. Duane is an electronics technician with a specialization in navigation.
Honing those skills, he has done several ocean tours aboard nuclear submarines including the USS Buffalo and USS Honolulu. On one amazing journey, his sub surfaced through the ice near the North Pole, where he and his crew experienced a polar bear peering down at the departing sub as if it were a giant seal.
Duane continued schooling in electronics in Norfolk, Va., where his sister Manigeh from Tombstone Class of 1997, and brother-in-law Kenneth Mack, Tombstone Class of 2000, both reside while Kenneth, an electrician's mate first class, also pursues a promising nuclear science career in the Navy.
As best friends, Duane and Kenneth decided to join the Navy together under the Buddy System. Their careers took them in different directions after boot camp, although they both reside in Norfolk.
After the sea duty, while performing his naval duties at shore, Duane champed at the bit to go where the war was happening.
“He hounded them until they finally gave him an assignment, and that led to another assignment,” George said.
Duane’s first war-zone duty came in the summer of 2007, his father said. He received U.S. Army training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and from there went to Kuwait for convoy training, then to Camp Liberty, Iraq, and finally was the noncommissioned officer in charge of a communications outpost that involved satellites and unmanned aircraft systems.
His Navy electronics-navigation expertise was brought to bear on the Iraq battlefield.
The same is expected to happen in Afghanistan.
“This is what I do,” Duane said during the phone conversation from the other side of the globe.
He said he wears the Army combat uniform, based on mission requirements. He still carries USN insignia.
He is authorized to wear the Navy’s desert camouflage uniform.
“At the higher chain of command, they are trying to figure out exactly what uniform they want us in,” he quipped.
One of the best skills he has picked up from his Army buddies is combat life-saving. He said this highly-specialized training could help someone later on when he retires to civilian life.
“I just got here ... I’m getting settled into my deployment ... looking forward to it,” Duane said.
George said the family has four people in the service.
“We have had as many as three of them in the war zone at a given time,” he said.
Besides Duane and Kenneth, the family members include son-in-law Joseph Parker, married to George and Donna’s daughter Mary. He is with the 101st Airborne Division and has seen two tours in Iraq. Jonathan York of Richmond, Va., Donna’s nephew, has served in the Army, was blinded in an eye during a suicide bomber’s attack, received a Bronze Star Medal and persuaded his superiors to let him get back to the war zone.
Herald/Review City Editor Ted Morris can be reached at 515-4614 or cityeditor@svherald.com.
Hmmm wrote on Sep 12, 2008 8:36 AM: