He was 22, and after talking to some buddies, decided to enlist in the U.S. Army. Then after learning about a $40,000 signing bonus connected to the bomb diversion platoon, he decided that was his best path.
That was nearly a deadly decision, but now, 16 years later, Dawson has no regrets. His 13 years in the Army, and the impact they have had on him, would be the major chapters in his life story.
Now a medically retired first class sergeant, Dawson was an honored guest last weekend in Middletown for the 13th annual Team Fastrax Warrior Weekend, an event that brings combat injured warriors and Gold Star families together to share stories, participate in numerous outdoor activities and highlight some heroes.
One of those was Dawson.
In 2015, Dawson, a soldier from the U.S. Army’s only airborne Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or EOD, Company was presented with the nation’s second highest award for valor. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross while deployed to Afghanistan with the 28th EOD Company in support of the U.S. Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment.
Dawson said the Oct. 5, 2013 mission in Afghanistan was supposed to be routine.
“The threat was low and it was supposed to be a quick, easy target,” he said during a phone interview from his North Carolina home.
It was anything but routine.
During the mission at a remote enemy compound, a fleeing insurgent detonated an explosive, killing himself and the team’s multi-purpose canine, Dawson said. That’s when he realized his team was surrounded by IEDs.
Dawson was severely wounded by two separate explosions. Still, he halted the mission, disarmed the improvised explosive devices and aided in the evacuation of dead and wounded soldiers.
He called the situation “chaotic” because he had limited visibility for more than two hours. He located three confirmed pressure plate IEDs and an additional six suspected devices, he said.
At one point, Dawson dropped to his knees and used his flashlight to shine the area in front of him. He saw 40 mounds of potential explosives.
That was his first of seven deployments. During the next six, Dawson tried not to think about how he defied death months earlier.
“We take the fight to the enemy every single night,” he said. “There are fire nights. There are casualties.”
Dawson, 37, married to Trish who has five grown children, said he wouldn’t consider himself a religious man. But after that first deployment, before every mission, Dawson prayed that everyone would make it home safely.
“Maybe not whole,” he said, “but we made it home.”
Dawson said he never enlisted in the military for a potential medal, let alone the second highest award for valor, surpassed only by the Medal of Honor.
Herb Davis, a Warrior Weekend committee member and Marine, said Dawson is “walking on very sacred ground.”
John Hart, Warrior Weekend co-founder and owner of Team Fastrax, the Middletown based professional skydiving team, simply called Dawson “an American hero.”
When relayed what Hart had said, Dawson responded: “I did what I was trained to do. I just didn’t die in the process.”
There was a long pause on the phone. Then Dawson added: “That’s one of those things that’s tough. It’s hard accepting an accomplishment, an award like that. It wasn’t for me, but for those who didn’t come home from there.”
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