Iraq war hero's actions stun base, attorney
Iraq war hero's actions stun base, attorney
By Augie Frost
Published: February 27, 2008
Dustin Thorson was a decorated war veteran and community leader the day he killed his two children and turned the gun on himself at his home on Tinker Air Force Base.
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The
U.S. Army honored Thorson in 2006 with the Joint Commendation Medal for aiding coalition forces in capturing the No. 10 most wanted terrorist in
Iraq, according to a Nov. 22, 2006, issue of Tinker Take Off, the base newspaper.
His military career, status in the community and a lot of other things ended Monday with him lying dead in the same bedroom as his two children, ages 9 and 4.
All had suffered gunshot wounds to their heads.
The children had also been shot in the chest and died instantly, officials said.
"Am I surprised? Absolutely,” said Thorson's attorney,
Matthew Tate Wise. "His thing is, he made it over and over again that he loved his kids. He's done all kinds of amazing things for the military, so that makes it even more unbelievable.”
Identified in the newspaper as an Air Force technical sergeant, Thorson's computer skills helped find the wanted terrorist in Iraq by hacking into computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.
He was assigned to the 752nd Communications Squadron, but was sent to Iraq and was embedded with the U.S. Army's 172nd Brigade Combat Team,
4th Infantry Division operating out of
Baghdad, the newspaper said.
He initially shipped to Iraq to fix computers and printers, but was reassigned as a communications specialist to an Army warfare group because of his ability to hack into enemy communication devices, the newspaper said.
His transition from an Air Force technical guru into an embedded assignment with the Army led to him being nicknamed "Sponge Bob,” for his ability to soak up knowledge from his new comrades in the Army, the newspaper said.
Thorson helped track the terrorist by tracing a cell phone.
His team had gone house to house in the area looking for the terrorist, but was unsuccessful.
They were about to call off the search when the terrorist's phone rang, giving up his location, the newspaper said.
The terrorist was identified also as the operator of the largest improvised explosive device manufacturing plant found up until that point in Iraq, the newspaper said.
"He (Thorson) loved gadgets and things,” Wise said.
"If you saw him, you would kind of immediately catch that about him.”
Active in the community
Wise said Thorson was a nice guy and very active in the community.
An April 2007 story from the public affairs office of the Air Force's 552nd Air
Control Wing said Thorson volunteered as an advocate against drunken driving.
Thorson was quoted in the story as saying, "If you're the kind of person that will let a buddy get into a car and drive drunk, then I don't need you beside me in combat.”
He also encouraged his fellow airmen to volunteer with Christmas in April, a nationwide community service program that helps renovate and repair homes of low-income elderly and disabled.
On Monday, Wise was called by authorities about a situation involving Thorson on the base.
He knew very little about what was going on, he said.
He tried to call his client's cell phone about 4 p.m. Monday, but nobody answered. He found out later what Thorson had done.
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