Former Staff Sgt. Scott Dunckel, US Army
Scott grew up in Michigan and was always an outdoors kind of guy. He worked in construction and decided when he graduated from high school that joining the military would give him opportunities to build new things in new places, to have a purpose, and broaden his horizons.
He speaks well of his time in the military as it did give him those tools and so much more. He saw a world of opportunity and met people from all walks of life that really made him think outside of the small town he grew up in and appreciate that small-town experience at the same time.
Scott served as a combat engineer, and his key mission was moving ahead of the troops seeking out explosives with a special vehicle that would detect them and mark them. One day an explosive detonated before he detected it, blasting his vehicle and causing compression injuries in multiple places down his spine, as well as a traumatic brain injury.
He was medically discharged in 2014. He continues to work with pain management and find motivation after leaving the job he loved, and he is going back to school to learn to weld.
One motivating and relaxing thing in his life has been water. Sitting at the bottom of a pool has always been his happy place but work and school didn’t allow him a chance to pursue scuba diving. Now going back to school and being a stay-at-home dad with active kids 6 and 8 years old, he is enjoying taking his kids fishing and hunting, and his daughter has joined a scuba rangers program in College Station, Texas, recharging his desire to give it a try.
Scott’s wife, Melissa Dunckel, will be his dive buddy, both trained with Instructor Jean Jones of the Dive Pirates Foundation in connection with Aggieland Scuba and are now enjoying diving as they can do together.