Memorial Day is a day to remember those who served, and went before us. I have many reasons to remember.

Jeff Lehner. 1983-2009. KIA, Afghanistan.

I met Jeff at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, CA, where we went through Korean together. He was whip-smart, good looking, and incredibly funny.

After Jeff left the Air Force, he served as a contractor for the DoD. One day in October, while flying aboard a modified King Air over Afghanistan, Jeff and his crew never made it home.

It was the first time I would feel the loss of a friend so close.

Rest In Peace, Jeff.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dispatch/name/jeffrey-lehner-obituary?id=26296009

Julian Scholten, 1985-2012. KIA, Djibouti, Africa.

Julian and I served together in Florida, and I first met him on our squadron’s flag football team. He was clever, hard-working, and hilarious. He was a decorated aviator, even for one so young.

Julian and his crew were lost after a routine mission in Africa. It was devastating to those of us he left behind, as is evidenced by the number of tributes and memorials we dedicated to him.

Rest In Peace, Julian.

https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/about/cryptologic-heritage/cryptologic-memorial/scholten.pdf

Thomas Edwards. July 1980-July 2013.

“Eddy” to his friends, Thomas was one of my closest friends in the Air Force. A West Virginia native, his Appalachian twang was only surpassed in likability by his loud and joyful laugh. He was smart, kind, and thoughtful.

Unfortunately, he was also a tortured soul, and took his own life.

Eddy’s loss hit me very hard, and the hurt continues to this day.

Rest In Peace, Eddy.

http://blueridge.tributes.com/obituary/print/96161241

Kenny Dalga. 1987-2017.

Kenny, a commissioned officer in our sister squadron at Cannon AFB, NM, was a born leader. He was intelligent, with a great sense of humor, and his abundance of friends was a testament to that.

A 2017 mishap, during a routine training flight at home, was to be Kenny and his crew’s last sortie. It shook us all to the core, because our community had not lost aviators outside of combat. It drove home the point that everything we do is inherently dangerous. Yet Kenny served.

Rest In Peace, Kenny.

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/boone-county/union/northern-kentucky-native-killed-in-air-force-plane-crash

Ethan Swilor. 1979-2019.

Ethan was another classmate of mine at DLI where he learned Pashto — a language so rare (in 2004) that his graduation coin had a single digit on it, representing the small number of graduates before him.

I grew up with Ethan in the Air Force, and he was someone who always asked about me and cared for other people. When I got the call in 2019 that he had taken his own life, I literally fell to the floor in grief.

Ethan’s loss left a hole in the lives of those who knew him, and continues to this day.

Rest In Peace, Ethan.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/saltlaketribune/name/james-swilor-obituary?id=2089228

Helen Jeanne Jennings. 1953-2021.

The hardest loss to me. “Jeanne,” to her friends and family, she began her Air Force as an enlisted maintainer, later using her bachelor’s degree to commission. In 1981, at the rank of captain, she left the Air Force to care for her firstborn son, me.

When she was first diagnosed with ALS in 2018, it didn’t hit any of us how quickly it would take her life, but she continued to fight it for those of us whom she loved — and boy did she love.

She was brilliant, caring, and full of joy. Last November, she passed away quietly at home, surrounded by loved ones.

Her loss devastated me because she was so easy to love, but her memory always brings me happiness.

She is missed.

Rest In Peace, Mom.

http://hosting-21801.tributes.com/obituary/show/Helen-Jeanne-Jennings-108532129