Dustin Scott Harrison was nine days away from coming home to his wife and 2-year-old daughter when he was killed in an attack by the al-Shabab terrorist group at a Kenyan airfield on Jan. 5.
Another civilian defense contractor and an Army soldier were also killed in the attack at Manda Bay Airfield.
Harrison, 47, a civilian pilot working for the U.S. Department of Defense, flew in surveillance and reconnaissance missions, deploying for eight to 10 weeks at a time.
His most recent deployment was likely going to be his last because being away from his family was becoming too hard for him, his brother Troy Harrison said.
Dustinโs family and friends gathered at the Diocese of Tucson on Saturday to celebrate his life and share stories about him.
Many of the details of his job were a secret to his friends and relatives. When his mother or wife worried about his deployments, he assured them he was safe, Troy said before the ceremony.
Dustin would tell his family he was doing surveillance โ โboring work,โ Troy said.
In the last two weeks, people who worked with Dustin have reached out to Troy, shedding light on what his brother did as a pilot, transporting service members and VIPs on sometimes dangerous missions, Troy said.
โIt was like he kind of led a secret life a lot of us didnโt know,โ he said. โAnd to find this out after heโs gone is kind of tough. We canโt really share it with him.โ
Troy remembers his brother as โa little bit of a nerdโ who had many hobbies, including riding dirt bikes. He started showing a passion for aviation and knew he wanted to learn how to fly once he graduated from high school.
Troy said he and Dustin bonded over their knowledge of aviation. Troy was an air traffic controller for almost 30 years, he said, which helped him provide advice for his brother, who would sometimes get frustrated with some of the air traffic controllers he worked with earlier in his career.
Living in Seattle, Troy didnโt talk to Dustin often, but when they did, they would always make plans to spend more time together once their lives calmed down.
โI looked forward to that, and itโs not going to happen,โ he said, holding back tears.
Troy didnโt expect his longtime-bachelor brother to become a father. When Dustin was a young uncle, he would leave the room if one of his brotherโs babies needed a diaper change.
Dustinโs mentality about children quickly changed after he met Hope. They had their own daughter, Heaven, two years ago.
โWhen we made the decision to have our daughter he had no idea how deeply his life would be affected,โ Hope said. โThe minute he held her, she became his world.โ
Hope said she feels Dustin left his family halfway through life. But in the short time they were together he always showed how much he loved them.
โI feel in a way that sheโs been cheated, that weโve been cheated,โ she said.
โBut in the same sense when you love there are going to be scars and I accept those scars, and if I could go back and do it all over again, knowing what I know now I would still do it.โ
