But he's still so sick from his deployment during Desert Storm 11 years ago that the military wouldn't take him.
Gulf War veterans like Wadzinski, who suffer from illnesses linked to their duty in the war, say sending troops back to the region to fight could lead to another generation of service members with medical problems that may haunt them for life.
Many of those cases could show up in North Carolina. The state's military bases might supply as many as 50,000 of the 300,000 or so troops analysts say would be needed for a second war with Iraq. North Carolina bases sent about 100,000 men and women to serve in the last gulf war, of a total force of 697,000.
Although casualties of that conflict were relatively low - 150 Americans died as a result of injuries - many came home sick or fell ill later with symptoms doctors still can't explain.
The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses has estimated that 25 percent to 30 percent of the veterans have unexplained illnesses. Veterans advocates say it may be closer to 40 percent.
There's still no definitive causes for their complaints, despite more than 200 federally funded studies costing more than $213 million. That leaves many disabled gulf war vets worried that what happened to them might await a new wave of soldiers.
"Some of my neighbors are already over there," Wadzinski said. "And before they left, this is what I told them: 'Have a good gas mask that's in good working order, and know how to use it. And every time something happens, put it on.
There is no such thing as a false alarm."'
Wadzinski's military records show he was vaccinated before his deployment against a host of diseases and infectious agents, including anthrax and botulism.
He also took many pills the military provided as protection against nerve gas.
By the time he got home, however, Wadzinski had recurring rashes on his arms, chest and legs. Later, the headaches began, followed by chronic fatigue, and joint and muscle aches.
The military first said it had no proof he had ever served in the gulf. When he produced records of his own, the doctors told him his problems were in his head, he said.
He took early retirement in 1994 after 18 years of service. He took a job as an emergency services worker. Then, in December 1997, he learned his liver was failing. A transplant Christmas Eve saved his life, but he says he lives in constant pain.
In his prime, he ran 12 miles a week and lifted weights regularly. Now, at 42, he's barely able to raise the leather satchel filled with paperwork detailing his fight to get the military to take responsibility for his illness.
Jim E. Brown of Gastonia gave up that battle long ago. He doesn't seek treatment at Veterans Affairs medical centers, and he doesn't get VA disability payments, which top out at $2,200 a month for veterans found 100 percent disabled.
When he feels like working, he uses his energy searching out government documents and disseminating what he and others find through Gulf Watch, which he founded in 1991 to advocate for gulf war veterans.
For instance, he said, the group has acquired copies of mission logs detailing the destruction of a chemical-weapons storage facility near Khamisiyah, Iraq, which the U.S. government only recently acknowledged. The Pentagon has said the explosions might have exposed 101,000 troops to sarin and mustard agents.
While the defense department recently issued a statement saying that the military has improved its protective measures, he said he doesn't think it will be enough.
"We weren't prepared in 1990, and we're even less prepared now," he said. "We know we are not up to the task of defending against this stuff, yet the people in charge are sending us anyway."
Randy Hebert of Emerald Isle, who has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease that government doctors have attributed to his gulf war service, is more supportive of the Bush administration's stance. So is his wife, Kim, who looks after Randy now that he cannot care for himself.
But she still worries about the next desert deployment.
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