Air Force AWOL Found in Florida After 40 Years

Missing veteran found 40 years later leading double life

New York Post
By Jackie Salo
October 17, 2017

A U.S. Air Force veteran who vanished while on active duty was discovered 40 years later living a double life in Florida.

Jeffrey Michels, 64, went missing from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota in July 1977 — only to be found last week using an alias with a wife and kids in Sanford, Florida.

Authorities said that Michels had gone by the name Jeffrey Lantz, which he used to get a license for construction company in 1998, news station WFTV reported.

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Buffalo Police Officer Craig Lehner Body Found

Live coverage: Solemn escort for Officer Craig Lehner
Buffalo News
By Aaron Besecker, Lou Michel, Maki Becker
Published 2:16 p.m. October 17, 2017
Updated Less than a minute ago

They vowed to bring their brother home.

And after five long days of searching the relentless Niagara River, the body of missing Buffalo Police diver Craig Lehner has been finally found. The police made the official announcement just after 3 p.m.

A procession is about to begin to bring his body to Erie County Medical Center. Already, police and firefighters have begun lining the route to pay their respects.

Here is the route the procession will take: Niagara Thruway (I-190) North to the Scajaquada Corridor (198) East. Then the Kensington Expressway (33) East to the Grider Street exit and on to ECMC to the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office.
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DoD 2017 Second Quarter Suicide Report

DoD Suicide Report

For the second quarter of 2017, the military services reported the following: 

• 56 deaths by suicide in the Active Component 

• 27 deaths by suicide in the Reserves 

• 36 deaths by suicide in the National Guard

First half of 2017 Totals

Active 130

Reserves 48

National Guard 68

🔃

Total 246

UPDATE

I thought about this all day and kept asking how anyone could find any of this acceptable or dismissible? 

If they do not change what they are doing, then they must find the result acceptable. If the awareness raisers running around using slogan like "22" or "20" a day, dismiss these men and women serving the country, who will stop them?

It is not bad enough that the majority of the veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50 but are ignored. 

Not bad enough that folks keep ignoring the fact that not all states have military service on death certificates and their veterans were not counted. 

Not bad enough that while the number of enlisted service members went down during the last decade of the DoD doing "prevention training" the number of suicides were not reduced accordingly. 

Not bad enough that they noticed that training was not good enough to prevent non-deployed from committing suicide or notice they needed to change to take care of those with multiple deployments.

No, none of that was bad enough for anyone getting all the attention and money to do a damn thing differently. 

So please tell me when the fuck this is going to get bad enough for someone to find none of this acceptable and actually do something to change what this deadly decade has produced!

Last Images of Buffalo Missing Police Officer Craig Lehner

Sean Kirst: A photographer captures lasting image of Officer Craig Lehner

Buffalo Police Officer Craig Lehner with his dog Shield at the K-9 training area on Louisiana Street. (Photo courtesy of Shannon Davis)

Lehner, 34, a nine-year veteran of the police department, has been missing since he vanished Friday during a training session for Buffalo police divers in the Niagara River. 

For the past four days, multiple local, state, federal and Canadian agencies have joined forces in a furious and difficult search. 

Zoll introduced Davis to Lehner, who joined the K-9 unit about a year ago. Lehner told Davis about his dog Shield, a 4-year-old German shepherd purchased by the Buffalo police from a training center near Rochester. As they spoke, Davis said, the dog – intent and preoccupied – wandered in circles in the training area, nose down, sniffing the ground. "He never stopped working," Davis said of Shield.

Lehner served in both Iraq and Guantanamo Bay with the Army National Guard. Davis photographed him with Shield, then spontaneously asked if she could take one portrait of Lehner, alone. Looking back on it, she is grateful for both images.

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Can't Find Good News? Are You Looking For It?

Editing videos and trying to play catchup, but wanted to share these stories I read earlier today. So many people think that there are no good news stories, but this should prove that if they don't find them, they must not be looking for them.

Florida military monument gives families place to think of relatives

"The monument in the heart of Green Cove Springs will ensure that the memories of people like Coleman will live forever. The $82,000 sculpture was built with money raised from individuals and charitable organizations with no financial assistance from the government."

Soldier's suicide leaves a family with questions 

"The truth is Bauders, 25, killed himself at Al Asad Air Base less than a month after arriving for his first tour in Iraq. Horton believes the way he was memorialized, and the way his death was investigated, reveal that while the military has put an emphasis on combating veteran suicides, it's still struggling to change the cultural stigma around mental health for active soldiers."

95-year-old man skydives in Suffolk, breaks record as oldest diver

"Norwood Thomas set a record Sunday while skydiving. Two days after his 95th birthday, Thomas became the oldest person to jump out of a plane at Skydive Suffolk." #inspirational

Army vet Travis Mills tackles new challenge: reviving another Maine resort

"Now, they’ve set goals for its expansion. They’re acquiring new watercraft for the rental fleet, including pontoon boats, canoes and stand-up paddleboards. They hope to add a playground for children and resources for ice fishing, and eventually open a waterfront restaurant. They’ve also renovated the front office and begun stocking it with concessions such as beer, wine and custom-roasted coffee, as well as a bigger array of fishing tackle." #inspirational

Party in Denham Springs celebrates day Iraq War veteran fought death and won

Ten years ago in combat in Iraq, Vaughn came incredibly close to dying, but didn’t. As remarkable as his survival and recovery were, his Army buddies weren't surprised. "If anybody's going to get shot in the face and live to tell about it, it's going to be Chance ... Vaughn," said Cody Chandler, of Kaufman, Texas, a former comrade in arms who attended the party." #inspirational

Vietnam veteran gets homecoming he's always wanted with Queen City Honor Flight

"There was no race in foxholes, he tells me, only brotherhood. 'When you in combat, it doesn't make any difference if the man beside you is black, white, Hispanic or what. You better have his back and you better have his back. And that's all there is to it.'" #inspirational

For one father, new Global War on Terrorism memorial in Georgia triggers emotions

"John Henderson Sr. paused, then kissed the index finger on his right hand before running the finger across the name, starting with the “Jr.” at the end and working right to left."
"It was like he was going backward — a mental and emotional rewind after more than a dozen years of pain."