Col. William E. Wiggins, a Suffolk native, has retired from the armed services after 40 years.

Wiggins joined the military in July 1975, a month after graduating from the former John Yeates High School.

Before being assigned to his last duty station, the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., in 2011, he served at the Joint Staff Suffolk Complex for three years.

He graduated from Thomas Nelson Community College with an associate’s degree in applied science in 1981. His military academic training culminated at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

He is the son of the late Austin and Beatrice Wiggins of Suffolk.