Peterson Air Force Base Member's Death Under Investigation in Arizona

Military service member assigned to border mission found dead, foul play not suspected

Associated Press
June 2, 2019

NOGALES, Ariz. — Authorities say a military service member assigned to the Southwest Border Support Mission has died in southern Arizona.

Layers of concertina are added to existing barrier infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border near Nogales, Ariz., Feb. 4, 2019. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

Officials at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said in a statement that the military service member was found dead Saturday near Nogales.
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Peterson Air Force Base Released Contaminated Water

U.S. Air Force: Toxic chemicals released into Colorado city's sewer system
CBS News
October 19, 2016

The Air Force said the tainted water was released from a storage tank sometime in the past week, but the cause of the leak was still under investigation. It was discovered during a routine inspection of the tank on Oct. 12.

DENVER -- An Air Force base in Colorado said Tuesday it accidentally released about 150,000 gallons of water containing toxic chemicals into the sewer system of the adjacent city of Colorado Springs, but the potential health hazards weren’t immediately known.

Peterson Air Force Base said the water contained perfluorinated compounds or PFCs, which have been linked to prostate, kidney and testicular cancer, along with other illnesses. The Air Force hasn’t said how high the levels were.

The chemicals didn’t get into the city’s drinking water, said Steve Berry, a spokesman for Colorado Springs Utilities.

CBS Colorado Springs affiliate KKTV reports that releasing the water isn’t an easy task.
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Air Force Colonel Faces Trial for Rape, Adultery and Dirty Selfie

Schriever Air Force Base colonel headed to trial on allegations of rape, adultery, dirty selfie
The Gazette
By: Tom Roeder
May 10, 2016

An evidence hearing in the case in March included a long walk through the married colonel's alleged love life, which prosecutors say included adulterous acts with a half-dozen mistresses. He's also charged with taking an obscene selfie "while in uniform and seated in his office" at Schriever, one of the military's most secure and secretive bases.

Col. Marcus Caughey will head to court-martial in August on a pile of charges, including multiple instances of adultery and a sexual assault.

(U.S. Air Force photo/Christopher DeWitt)

A Schriever Air Force Base colonel will head to court-martial in August on a pile of charges, including multiple instances of adultery and a sexual assault.

Prosecutors allege Col. Eugene Marcus Caughey's misconduct dates back to 2013. The rape allegation stems from a 2014 incident at Schriever, where prosecutors allege Caughey assaulted a woman "while holding her against the wall and floor."

The trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 8, Peterson Air force Base spokesman Steve Brady said.

Caughey, who was reassigned to Air Force Space Command headquarters pending his court-martial, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
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Linked from Stars and Stripes

Colorado Retailer Charged With Scamming Military Families

Colorado Says Retailer Scams Military Families 
Courthouse News Service
By EMMA GANNON
July 20, 2015

DENVER (CN) - USA Discounters Ltd. preys on servicemembers and their families, charging them excessive interest and inappropriate fees on credit transactions, Colorado's attorney general says.

Attorney General Cynthia Coffman sued the company, which is also known as USA Living and Fletcher's Jewelers, last week in Denver District Court.

In her complaint, Coffman says the defendants often locate their stores near large military bases, like Peterson Air Force Base and Fort Carson Army Base, both of which are in Colorado Springs and extend credit to military families. However, once the families begin to rely on that credit to make purchases, they are charged exorbitant fees and abnormally high late penalties, and offered extensions on credit accounts that have been closed.
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GOP constituents also depend on jobless aid

GOP constituents also depend on jobless aid
Associated Press
By NICHOLAS RICCARDI
January 14, 2014

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — When federal emergency unemployment benefits expired last month, the effects ran deep in a Colorado county marked by two exit ramps off Interstate 25 — one leading to the conservative religious group Focus on the Family, the other to the Fort Carson Army post.

Hardly a liberal bastion, El Paso County has the largest number of people in the state who lost unemployment benefits, and many aren't happy about it. Plenty of Republicans, too, depend on jobless aid that Republicans in Congress are hesitant to prolong. The ideological argument for standing against an extension of benefits — that the aid can ultimately make it harder to find work — meets a more complex reality where people live.

Democrats propose to extend the emergency benefits for people who have been or are about to be out of work for more than six months; Republicans are less inclined to take that step, particularly if it means the government borrows more money. The paralysis led to the expiration of benefits for 1.3 million long-term unemployed on Dec. 28. Lawmakers are still working on a compromise.

The standoff infuriates people such as Lita Ness, who lost her job as a civilian contractor at Peterson Air Force Base in August 2012 and just received her final check from the unemployment office.

"I'm registered as a Republican, but if they continue to use this not extending our (aid) I'm probably changing to Democrat," Ness, 58, said as she took a break from a computer training class at the Pikes Peak Workforce Center. "People in our district who vote 'No' on this, I'm not going to support them."
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Airman from Idaho killed in Afghanistan

DOD Identifies Air Force Casualty
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release No: NR-098-13
December 28, 2013

The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Capt. David I. Lyon, 28, of Sandpoint, Idaho, died Dec. 27, 2013, from wounds suffered when his vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device in Kabul, Afghanistan.

He was assigned to the 21st Logistics Readiness Squadron, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.