A Glimpse Of Double D
Army Cpl. Dustin R. Donica
Dustin R. Donica loved ham-and-pineapple pizza and Dr. Pepper. Sushi, he wrote, scared him. He dreamed of meeting Peter Griffin, Ed Norton, Brad Pitt and Rusty Shackleford. Donica, 22, was killed Dec. 28 by small-arms fire in Karmah. He was assigned to Fort Richardson. Born and raised in Houston, Donica was a 2002 high school graduate and enlisted in 2003 after a stint at the University of Texas at Austin. In April 2005, “Double D,” as he was known to his friends, was sent to the brigade’s home base at Fort Richardson. On his MySpace site, Donica, 22, noted, tongue in cheek, the incongruity of the posting. “The Army finds it prudent to condition me to the cold in preparation for my Iraq tour,” he wrote. On the website, he talked about his future plans, his likes and dislikes. “I like to play a lot of sports — soccer, basketball, racquetball and ultimate frisbee are my favorites,” he wrote. In a written statement, his father, David Donica, said, “Dustin had a tremendous sense of duty, both to his family, and his country. He will be missed by his family, and all those that knew him.”
-2006 USA TODAY
“I have to smile every time I see the article posted above - A Glimpse of DD. At the time of Dustin’s death, we declined all interviews. When ABC announced Dustin’s MySpace account, the news reporters jumped on it as they thought they could capture the essence of Dustin. They picked up on his tongue-in-cheek comment about the Army sending him to the snowy Arctic blast of Alaska to train for the arid desert heat of Iraq. The press, however, totally missed it in regard to who he would like to meet. Peter Griffin is a fictional character from the animated TV series Family Guy and Rusty Shackleford is the alter-ego of Dale Gribble, a fictional character from the animated TV series King of the Hill. That was my son, and his unique sense of humor was showing itself once again. I guess Dustin has the last laugh on this one.”
-Judy Donica
