7Salutes: Retiring 3-star Lt. General Raymond Dingle from Prince George's County

“I see myself as just a Marylander from Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, just a native local homeboy,” said Lt. General Raymond Dingle.

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (7News) — But Dingle is more like the pride of Prince George’s County.

For 35 years, Lt. General Dingle has devoted his life to his country.

I recently sat down with the general to look back on his career as he is getting ready to call it quits.

Before he joined the military, he was a standout football player in high school and was being recruited by a number of schools including the Virginia Military Institute.

“I asked him (coach) do you have girls at the school and at the time it wasn’t. I said I’m not going to VMI and at the time my dad blew a gasket. As he blew a gasket, I told him I would promise him to let me go to the school of my choice and I’ll get into ROTC," he said.

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Dingle attended Morgan State University and did sign on with the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program.

It has been a military life ever since.

“We’ve moved 15 or 17 times around the world, three tours in Germany," he said.

His wife of 36 years and his four children made all the moves with him.

Dingle said the tough part of military life is the deployments where you miss family gatherings and milestones.

“Those are the tough times, there are things about military life you going to miss birthdays," he said.

He smiles thinking about his military experience and said he was able to live his dreams and more.

“I was fortunate to break a few barriers. I was the first medical corps service officer to get accepted and graduate from the School of Advanced Military Studies," Dingle said. "I was also fortunate as a company commander. I was the first African American company commander in my battalion to command a medical company.”

Right now, he serves as the first African American U.S. Army Surgeon General and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command.

Come the new year, he will take off his uniform and three stars and call it a career.

“I’m going to miss the people after 35 years because the greatest thing about the military is the tribe, or the relationships you establish, and the teamwork. I’ll miss that," he said.