LAURINBURG — Retired SGM Dennis Wolfe has nearly 50 years of service under his belt, both in and out of uniform.

The Army veteran currently resides in Scotia Village with his wife, but Wolfe’s military journey began in 1962 in a small Pennsylvania town.

“I always dreamed of seeing the world …,” Wolfe said. “Going beyond high school for education wasn’t possible because we had no money and there just weren’t that many job opportunities for me. I wanted to get out and the military gave me that opportunity.”

Wolfe added that he had no idea what he was getting into, but he didn’t want to miss an opportunity.

“When I got in the service I volunteered for everything,” Wolfe said. “I always put up my hand and said, ‘I’ll try.’ I didn’t want to miss an opportunity. Now sometimes what I volunteered for, I had second thoughts later on but I still did it.”

Wolfe attended explosive ordnance disposal school and, through the field, he was on presidential support. But it was when he was working at Redstone Arsenal as an instructor that he ended up interviewing for Delta Force, an elite special operations force in the Army.

“When I got the call to come to the unit in 1978, when Delta was being formed, I didn’t know what I was getting into,” Wolfe said. “They just said we want you to come here to interview for a position for a new unit that’s being formed at Fort Bragg. But I had no idea when I came here that I was going into one of the most physically demanding selection processes in the world.”

As part of Delta Force, Wolfe was sent on a mission in 1980 to Iran where the United States Embassy was taken over by terrorists.

The mission became known as Operation Eagle Claw, which was an attempt to rescue the 52 hostages— but the plan was aborted. Other missions included traveling to Italy in 1981 to consult with Italian Counter-Terrorism for the recapture of American Brig. Gen. James Dozier, team leader in the invasion of Granada known as Operation Urgent Fury in 1983, and executing a plan he developed for the transfer of troops from the Sinai after an aircraft crash in Newfoundland that killed all 256 personnel from the 101st Airborne Division.

“I retired in 1987 from the unit and then I worked there another nine years in civil service, then I worked at the higher headquarters,” Wolfe said.

In 2010 the Army bent its own rules to dedicate a building after Wolfe. Typically the Army won’t dedicate anything in the name of a veteran unless they’re deceased, but there was a way around the rule.

“They said, ‘we looked into it and since we’re on an Air Force installation, we checked in with the Air Force and because the building and compound are maintained by the Air Force those rules don’t apply,’” Wolfe said. “So they had it approved and I had a building dedicated to me called Wolfe’s Gate.”

The building is located on the Kirkland Air Force base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and used by the 21st Explosive Ordnance Disposal-Weapons of Mass Destruction Company, and houses equipment for rapid deployment.

Besides having the building named after him, Wolfe has numerous different awards including: a Lifetime Achievement award, the American Preparedness Defense Association Award for Exceptional Contributions in Support of Special Operations; the Superior Civilian Service Award; Fort Bragg’s Executive of the Year Award; the Order of the Dragon Award from the Chemical Corps; the Ordnance Order of Samuel Sharpe Award; the Legion of Merit; Defense Meritorious Service Medal; the Meritorious Service Medal; and various other unit and campaign medals.

In 2019 Wolfe was inducted into the Army Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame. His most notable award though came in 2018 when he received the U.S. Special Operations Command’s 2018 Bull Simons Award.

The award is a lifetime achievement award that recognizes recipients who embody the true spirit, values, and skills of a special operations warrior. Col. Arthur “Bull” Simons, who was the epitome of these attributes.

“All these awards came about later when I was out of active duty because things were so classified then you couldn’t be awarded for something because they couldn’t write about it,” Wolfe said. “I’m grateful because a lot of times these awards are given posthumously. To be recognized and still be alive to appreciate it is just awesome in my view.”

Reach Katelin Gandee at [email protected]. To support The Laurinburg Exchange, subscribe here: https://laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com/subscribe.