{"id":19053,"date":"2013-01-14T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T21:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=19053"},"modified":"2013-01-14T16:32:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-14T21:32:00","slug":"recently-promoted-macdill-colonel-dies-suddenly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=19053","title":{"rendered":"Recently Promoted MacDill Colonel Dies Suddenly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>BY GWEN HAYES<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Sentinel Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Just 14 days ago, a Tampa native stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, learned that he had been promoted to Colonel. On Sunday, January 13, 2013, <strong>Lieutenant Colonel Michael L. Dawson<\/strong>, passed away suddenly at his Valrico home.<\/p>\n<p>His family is baffled by what has occurred, since he had no known illnesses. They are awaiting toxicology reports. He was 51 years old.<\/p>\n<p>On New Year\u2019s Day, <strong>Lt. Colonel Dawson<\/strong>, who was Deputy Commander, Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE), MacDill Air Force Base, learned that he had been promoted to Colonel.\u00a0 His decoration pinning ceremony was already set for February 1, 2013.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colonel Dawson\u2019s<\/strong> mother, <strong>Pastor Anna Gibson<\/strong>, said that he was her oldest son. He graduated from Brandon High School, where he played football and ran track. Today, people still remember him as the quarterback at Brandon, <strong>Pastor Gibson<\/strong> stated.<\/p>\n<p>He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems in 1991 from Grambling State University, where he also played football.<\/p>\n<p>He has a Master\u2019s of Science degree from Strayer University, Master of Military Operational Art and Science (Air Command and Staff College, 2003) and Master of Strategic Studies (2011), Air War College. His education extends to other advanced training.<\/p>\n<p>His dates of promotions were: Second Lieutenant, July 22, 1991; First Lieutenant, July 18, 1993; Captain, July 18, 1995; Major, June 1, 2002, Lieutenant Colonel, May 1, 2007; and Colonel, January 1, 2013.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, <strong>Lt. Colonel Dawson<\/strong> spent 7 months in Afghanistan as the Deputy Director of Communications, Security Transition Command. He returned to his hometown in June 2011, as Deputy Commander.<br \/>\nHe received several major awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star.<\/p>\n<p>A family man who loved to read, <strong>Pastor Gibson<\/strong> said <strong>Colonel Dawson<\/strong> was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He and his wife, <strong>Lydia<\/strong> would have celebrated 18 years of marriage in March. They are the parents of a 12-year-old daughter, <strong>Breanna.<\/strong> His other survivors are 2 brothers, <strong>Marlon<\/strong> and<strong> Maurice Gibson<\/strong> and sister, <strong>Felicia Gibson-Jaycox<\/strong>. His father was the late <strong>Sim Gibson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor Just 14 days ago, a Tampa native stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, learned that he had been promoted to Colonel. On Sunday, January 13, 2013, Lieutenant Colonel Michael L. Dawson, passed away suddenly at his Valrico home. His family is baffled by what has occurred, since he had no [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}