Candyce and Dustin Brown last spoke to their son Hunter by phone on Sunday, Jan. 8, discussing the class schedule for his upcoming sophomore year at the Air Force Academy in Colorado.
Hunter was in good spirits. He was taking it easy in his dorm with his roommate as he continued to recover from foot surgery he’d undergone two months earlier, aimed at fixing a torn ligament suffered during football practice at the service academy. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary or unusual.
But the following day as he was heading to class, Hunter experienced a medical emergency and died. He was 21 years old.
“What happened was a total shock,” his mother, Candyce, told Military.com. “He was doing well with his recovery.”
Dustin and Candyce said Hunter’s death is a tragedy, especially because graduating from a service academy and playing college football had been a dream for him since he was a kid. Shortly after arriving in Colorado Springs, the cadet decided he wanted to become a pilot and fly cargo planes for the Air Force.
His dad, Dustin, was a radioman in the Navy. Growing up in Louisiana, Hunter saw that there were generations of his family who decided to join the military and he wanted to honor that tradition.
“He wanted to kind of carry on that legacy, and he wanted to play football,” Dustin said. “He found the opportunity to do both at the Air Force Academy.” . . . (read more on Military.com)
—
Previous
Air Force Academy Cadet Dies Suddenly While Walking to Class
The Pandora’s Box of mRNA Covid Vaccines by Scott Sturman, MD, USAFA ’72
Leave a Comment