Local officer traded life in a branch of the military for life like a tree with a whole lot of branches

Memorial Day weekend is upon us. This brings to mind, those brave men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice with giving their lives, as well as all of those who have sacraficed time, effort and talents to serving our country -- in the attempt to keep our nation safer for us all.

Kimball Police Sergeant and Investigator, Dwain Murdoch, is one of those brave.

Murdoch was raised on a 5,000 acre cattle ranch twenty miles west of Laramie, Wyo., until the age of 15 when he and his family moved to Sundance, Wyo. Murdoch graduated from the high school in Sundance in 1986.

"My dad made a deal with us," he said. "He said he wouldn't pay for our college but, he would either match what we had in our savings account or buy us a used vehicle."

Regarding the opportunity to attend college it was stated that "You either get a scholarship or join the military," Murdoch's father told him.

At that time Murdoch chose the offer of the used vehicle from his father as he stated he did not have money in savings to choose the matching option. The man received a 1977 orange Camaro with a white vinyl top, which Murdoch quips he wouldn't mind having now. "There were a lot of good times in that car," he shared.

At the age of seventeen, when he was a senior in high school, the young man joined the Wyoming Army National Guard, with written permission from his parents. Murdoch added that he joined the guard to help pay for his education, but he had a strong desire to continue a long-standing family tradition - in the Army.

"I would be the fifth generation in the Army, and the only one who had never seen combat (at that time), and you as they say, 'be careful what you wish for,'" he said. "I was so proud of my dad and my granddad. I had always told my dad that I wanted to do that (serve in the Army and combat) and he said, no you don't."

Murdoch received his basic training in Fort Sill, Okla., where he added that the regular Army members were not so respectful to the Army National Guard members and even nicknamed the soldiers, "Nasty Girls".

He served in the Wyoming Army National Guard stationed in Gillette, Wyo., which was an artillery unit. After some time in the WANG, Sergeant Murdoch decided to drive in his old Camaro to the M.E.P (Military Entrance Processing) Center in Denver to enlist in the Army.

"I had to take the physical and fill out paperwork, go through the process of being verified and then signed the papers to be on 'active duty'."

He confessed wittingly that when he became "Army" that he tried to lend effort in building a bridge between "Army" and the "Nasty Girls" - since he had experience in both. He didn't get the time to do so. Three weeks later Murdoch was flown to Germany.

"They gave me a choice, because of my job in the military, of Korea or Germany," he said. "I wanted to see Europe, so I chose Germany."

Murdoch further explained that in the process, personnel could choose to spend the first two years abroad or in-state, and he chose to serve his first two years in Germany.

"When I was over there is when Saddam invaded Kuwait," he said. "I knew that I was coming back to my home base in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Back then when you signed up you had to spend two years overseas. I thought I would be cruising the last two years in Southern Oklahoma, with the girls, speed boats and the fast cars. I didn't know all of this was going to happen in the Middle East."

"Everybody at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, basically got mobilized with the 18th Airborne Corp and the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division and went to Saudi Arabia. I knew ahead of time that I wouldn't be hanging out at the lake in Oklahoma," he added.

He was allowed a two week stay here in the States before he too, was flown out to meet with his unit, the 2nd Battalion 18th Field Artillery/18th Airborne Corp, in Saudi Arabia, where he served in "Operation Desert Storm" in 1991.

The unit was part of the flanking movement that "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf came up with according to Murdoch. General Norman Schwarzkopf, who died at the age of 78 in 2012, achieved international fame in 1991 as the commander of one of the biggest and most widely-reported military operations since the WWII.

"They would fake an invasion into Kuwait with the Marines," explained Murdoch of the operation, "and they got into a firefight there, and the entire 18th Airborne Corp came around their backside and flanked them in Southern Iraq where we were."

The Kimball officer then explained that it was the first time he had witnessed death. While the man was in Iraq, he served as a field artillery man.

"Ideally, we were supposed to be fire support for the infantry and special forces, but things happen so fast," he said. "I was a machine gunner on top of an artillery unit where I manned a 50 caliber machine gun and when we were sitting on top of a hill, the Iraqis had built a giant berm for hundreds of miles where they put mines and bombs, and barbed wire on the top of that."

"The plan was that after our Air Force bombed, then we were all going to go through there (the berm)," he added. "The problem was that working with other countries -- that they play by their own rules."

Murdoch continued by saying that the French Foreign Legion decided to speed up the process by bombing while in B-52 bomber planes. Although his unit was two miles away from the huge dirt and booby-trapped berm, the bombing made his cup of coffee placed on the deck on a 60 ton tank bounce around, falling to the ground.

"They blew up the berm and went through all by themselves. We couldn't leave them (the French), because they are getting shot at," he said. "Here we go. We couldn't leave them hanging. Everything happened so fast that we ended up in front."

Murdoch still has the American flag that was flying on his tank that day. A flag that is riddled with bullet holes, which he jokingly shares that when he questioned some of his comrades that day of why he was being shot at the most . One replied, "Because they are shooting at the flag, you (expletive)." The man laughed.

He added that the worst of the time spent there was during a cease-fire that apparently the Iraqi troops were not given notification of.

"After the cease-fire we did most of our fighting. They (the Iraqis) regrouped and surrounded us in the middle of the night and attacked us," he recalled "Thank God for the Air Force that day."

Though in the process of assisting his unit, the Air Force unintentionally blew up a chemical weapons storage facility upwind from them.

"The wind blew it down on us, so my lungs were bleeding for seven weeks after I returned and I still have respiratory problems because of that. But, it wasn't their fault (Air Force). They didn't know that (chemical storage facility) was there," explained Murdoch. In addition to respiratory issues, he added that upon his return stateside he also suffered from PTSD.

Murdoch added that he has had nothing but good results at the V.A. medical facility in Cheyenne, and wasn't sure why there has been so much in the news about the poor treatment offered by V.A. centers across the United States as of late. "I've never had any problems with the V.A."

Once he returned home Murdoch became a law enforcement officer while readjusting to civilian life, and he gives much of the credit to his wife, and 'better half', Jamie (Stander) Murdoch, stating that she is a very understanding and caring individual. He also gives credit to Jamie's family over the years adding that he had never before been part of such a caring and close family.

Murdoch spent a total of four years in active duty with the US Army and three years in the National Guard unit. Now he and Jamie have three beautiful daughters of whom they is exceptionally proud.

Murdoch first worked in the City Police Department for four and a half years, then at the Kimball Sheriff's Department for six and a half years, before grabbing a great offer from the police department to come back last Spring of 2015. The officer is also a firearms instructor for the Kimball Police Department, right here at home.

"My life is like a tree with a whole lot of branches," quipped Murdoch.