"NYPD detective apparently killed himself"

NYPD cop shot dead at Orange County eatery was apparent suicide, police say
New York Daily News
By John Annese
January 31, 2018

An off-duty NYPD detective apparently killed himself at an Orange County restaurant over the weekend, police sources said Wednesday.

NYPD Detective Nicholas Budney, 36, died of a gunshot wound to the head at an Orange County restaurant Saturday. (HANDOUT)

Det. Nicholas Budney, 36, died Saturday of a gunshot wound to the head at Billy Joe's Ribworks, a restaurant and music venue overlooking the Hudson River in Newburgh, sources said.

A worker at the eatery found him dead on a back patio the next day, according to a News 12 report.

Budney, a 13-year NYPD veteran and Rock Tavern, Orange County resident, was assigned to Emergency Service Unit Truck 3 in the Bronx.
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Iraq Veteran, Security Expert Hacker Suicide Left Many Wondering

These hackers’ suicides are eerily similar
New York Post
By Isabel Vincent
January 27, 2018

"War hero and Internet activist — it’s the dichotomy that made up the complicated life of James Dolan."

James Dolan and Aaron Swartz Freedom of the Press Foundation; Reuters

The ambulances and police cars came to a screeching halt outside the Gowanus Inn and Yard, a hip, ultramodern hotel that had recently opened on an edgy strip of Union Street in Brooklyn.

But the first responders were 48 hours late. James Dolan, a 36-year-old former Marine and computer security expert, had hanged himself in his room two days before, on Dec. 26, according to the NYPD.

Curious crowds gathered on Dec. 28 outside Dinosaur BBQ and an auto mechanic’s shop across the street from the new hotel whose boxy, gray industrial facade gives it an institutional air, like a hospital or a prison.

“They just opened that place, and someone goes there to die,” said a worker at Tomato N’Basil pizzeria around the corner, on Fourth Avenue. He had been among the crowds when they wheeled Dolan’s body out the door in a bag.

“What could have been so bad for him to do that?” he asked.

The answer may never be known. What is known is Dolan was the second member of a small team of brilliant Internet activists who developed SecureDrop — a whistle-blower submission system — to commit suicide by hanging in Brooklyn.
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Firefighter counts herself blessed to be able to help during one more

A veteran of tragedies from 9/11 to Katrina, one firefighter counts herself blessed to be able to help during one more

Los Angeles Times

Louie Sahagun

January 12, 2018

In the 27 years since joining the Los Angeles Fire Department, Hollyn Bullock has reported for search-and-rescue duty for tragedies like the World Trade Center terrorist attack in New York, Hurricane Katrina and the deadly train derailment in Chatsworth that claimed 25 lives.

Los Angeles firefighter Hollyn Bullock. (Louis Sahagun / Los Angeles Times)

On Friday, the veteran firefighter joined a team scouring through the wreckage of the latest disaster. Seventeen people were dead after mudslides tore through the Santa Barbara County community of Montecito. At least five remained missing.

And so, along a sodden, debris-tangled corner just east of the 101 Freeway, Bullock and others searched on.

“Honestly, I feel fulfilled, even blessed to have been given the opportunity to get in there and help people in times of crisis,” she said as fellow firefighters hosed contaminated mud off her boots and pant legs.

She was part of a team of 26 men and one woman: herself. 

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Lessons from WMHT’s multimedia ‘Vietnam in a Word’

‘We are the carriers’: Lessons from WMHT’s multimedia ‘Vietnam in a Word’

Current

Ian Fox

January 3, 2018

WMHT’s project “Vietnam in a Word” caught my eye with its simple concept and its even more elegant execution: a multimedia and community-driven oral history project, realized as an attractive digital hub for all of the station’s programming related to The Vietnam War, the documentary film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

WMHT staffers interview a Vietnam veteran at the Gateway Diner in Albany.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The offices of joint licensee WMHT would blend into its business-park surroundings if not for a protruding broadcast tower throwing its light into the November afternoon sun. Situated between the rowhouse-lined town square of Troy, N.Y., and Albany’s legislator-laden diners, the station’s innocuous digs — like those of many public media stations — don’t scream “community center.”

Yet WMHT’s exceptional work in its community is exactly why I was in the station’s parking lot on a biting cold day, a mile from the main road and 175 miles from my Boston home. It’s the first of what’ll be many station visits across the country for this series, In Public, in which I’ll explore the operations of innovative community engagement projects across public media.

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*******

The word I'd pick is "mind-boggling." The first time I heard a group of veterans talking about it, that was the term that struck me the most. They were still trying to figure it out.

National Guardsman Died Saving Others from FIre

National Guardsman Rescued Others Before Dying in NYC Fire

Associated Press

December 31, 2017

NEW YORK -- The victims of New York City's deadliest fire in decades include a man who immigrated to the Bronx from Ghana and dreamed of becoming a military policeman.

A relative told The New York Times that Emmanuel Mensah had rescued a number of people before going back into the burning building, where he died of smoke inhalation.

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Massive fire that killed 12 started by child playing with stove, causing 'unprecedented' loss

ABC News

Julia Jacobo and Morgan Winsor

December 29, 2017

A massive apartment fire that killed at least 12 people -- including a 1-year-old girl found with her mother in a bathtub -- was sparked by a small child playing with a stove, city officials said.

When the family fled the first-floor apartment unit, they left the door open, allowing the flames to spread into the stairwell and shoot up the staircase of the five-story residential building.

"It took the fire so quickly upstairs, people had little time to react," New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a press conference Friday morning. "Open stairs act as chimneys."

The burned-out halls of the building are seen in video released by New York fire officials on Friday. Soot and ash cover the hallway and stairwell from floor to ceiling.

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Dan Johnson's claim of PTSD Challenged

It appears that Rep. Dan Johnson's claim of PTSD was based on an event he was not part of. Did he use it as a symbol of honor or of suffering?

When fake veterans claim to have PTSD when they were not involved in any service, we call that "Stolen Valor and it is illegal when they use it for financial gain." 

When people claim PTSD, and tie it to something that did not happen to them, shouldn't there be a label for that one too?

In this case, Johnson claimed to be in New York and working as a Chaplain. He also collected Worker's Comp. Strange considering that we have so many police officers down here in Florida unable to collect, as well as firefighters, even though, there is plenty of evidence there were in fact there an on their jobs when the had to respond to the worst a human could do. 

This story is offensive on so many levels, it hits a huge population. Anyone with PTSD, for real, is offended. Anyone actually working in New York on 9-11 is offended. Any female is offended with the rest of the story.

As a Chaplain, the entire thing is offensive, but it does raise the question of what the legal remedy should be when someone uses the system falsely, while those with real injuries caused on the job, receive nothing.

Kentucky lawmaker who spun history of heroics ends life in suicide 
Denver Post
Adam Beam
December 14, 2017

Timothy D. Easley, The Associated Press

Kentucky State Rep., Republican Dan Johnson addresses the public from his church on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, regarding allegations that he sexually abused a teenager after a New Year’s party in 2013, in Louisville, Ky. Johnson says a woman’s claim that he sexually assaulted her in 2013 has no merit and he will not resign.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky lawmaker’s resume included enough material for an award-winning memoir: He was a peacekeeper at the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, a White House chaplain to three presidents and a 9/11 first responder who gave last rites to hundreds of people at Ground Zero.

But Republican Dan Johnson’s carefully crafted history crumbled this week following an extensively reported story from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. The story tore down his claims and portrayed him as a con man whose deceptions propped up his ministry of a church of outcasts in Louisville and hid a sinister secret: a sexual assault allegation from a 17-year-old girl.

On his financial disclosure forms, Johnson listed his only source of income as workers compensation from the state of New York. He said that money was from injuries he sustained while working as a chaplain immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City. But the reporting center, after a seven-month effort, could find no evidence that Johnson was in New York that day. 

In a Facebook message posted hours before his death, Johnson hinted that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder relating to what he witnessed in New York, details that he shared with friends through the years, including Republican state Sen. Dan Seum.

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Firefighters Saving Lives, Except Their Own

SAVING THOSE WHO SAVE OTHERS: A RETIRED CHIEF AIMS TO STOP FIREFIGHTER SUICIDES 
East County Magazine
By Miriam Raftery

November 22, 2017 

Most are young or in the prime of life; 228 were between age 17 and 30, 265 were  age 31 to 40, 269 were age 41 to 50, and 190 were age 51 to 60.  Firefighters in their  60s and 70s accounted for 48 and 30 suicides respectively, and 49 were of unknown age. 

(San Diego’s East County) – Last year, 69 firefighters in the U.S. died in the line of duty, the National Fire Protection Association reports. But far more  -- 139 – took their own lives.

So far this year, 86 firefighters have been lost through suicide—including Cal Fire Captain Ryan Mitchell, who killed himself at the Pine Valley Bridge in San Diego’s East County earlier this month.

Jeff Dill, CEO and founder of the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (www.ffbha.org) , is determined to save firefighters’ lives  through special workshops designed by a firefighter, for a firefighter.

The workshops are offered to fire departments across the nation. They focus on behavioral health awareness, suicide prevention, and making resources available to help firefighters and their families.  

“Five years ago, no one was taking down these names and numbers,” says Dill,  a retired battalion chief who got his masters degree in counseling in Illinois and has since done research to compile data on firefighter suicides, then went on to create programs to help prevent such tragedies.

Since 1880, when the earliest known suicide occurred (a fire chief in Auburn, New York), at least 1,078 firefighters have killed themselves.  Sixty of those deaths were in California, the fifth highest rate in the nation after Illinois, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York, the FFBHA reports.
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In 2008, I received and award from the IFO for my work as a Chaplain. That was topped off only by hearing this video, intended for National Guard and Reservists, was helping police officers and firefighters.

When we can understand regular folks surviving trauma, it shouldn't be hard to understand when someone risks their lives on a daily basis to end up suffering for what they are willing to do for the rest of us.

They wouldn't be wounded if they didn't care enough to endure all of it for our sake!

PTSD Veterans in New York Getting Medical Marijuana

Veterans with PTSD can apply to use medical marijuana legally, Cuomo announces

PIX 11 News

Ashley Soley-Cerro

November 11, 2017

"I think that can help thousands of veterans. It's something that we've been talking about for a long time and I'm glad we're taking action today." Gov. Andrew Cuomo

NEW YORK — In an effort to help thousands of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD will be added to the list of conditions covered for medical marijuana, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Veterans Day.

"Many of our veterans are suffering from PTSD and the medical community has determined that marijuana can be a helpful treatment," Cuomo said in a statement Saturday. "If there are veterans that are suffering and we can make a treatment available, we want to."

The governor plans to sign into law that marijuana will be legal if a doctor authorizes it, and finds a veteran suffers from PTSD, Cuomo said.

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Veteran Threatened to "Euthanize" Himself

'Disturbed' Upstate NY man had grenade launcher, loaded AR-15, explosives cache

New York Upstate
Ben Axelson
November 7, 2017

According to family members, Reis had post-traumatic stress disorder, and had served in the Special Forces. The Times Union found publications from the 109 Airlift Wing mentioning a man named Edward Reis, and noting that he had awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal.

Edward Reis' weapons cache.(screenshot from WRGB-TV video) 

Police in the Capital Region have arrested a man described as emotionally disturbed who had an illegal arsenal of weapons and explosives, and had threatened to "euthanize" himself.

Edward J. Reis, 43, is facing numerous charges, including weapons and forgery charges, after police uncovered a grenade launcher, grenades, dozens of high-powered weapons and an AR-15 style rifle at his home, The Albany Times Union reported.

Albany County Sheriff's officers received a call saying that an emotionally disturbed man "wanted to go to Arizona and euthanize himself." Police were unable to find him at his home, but discovered the weapons cache and materials commonly used to make explosives in a locked room. 
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Infection Alert for Over 500 Buffalo VA Patients

Higgins, Collins call infection risk notice to Buffalo VA patients 'troubling'

Buffalo News

Henry I. Davis

August 17, 2017

Rep. Brian Higgins says he is posing questions to Veterans Affairs officials about an alert to more than 500 patients at the Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center who underwent procedures with medical scopes.

"Anything that compromises the health and safety of those who so bravely served is extremely troubling," Higgins, D-Buffalo, said in a statement.

"We will ask for more details, await the results of the ongoing investigation, and will work with the Buffalo VA to see that our nation's duty to properly care for our veterans is met," he said.

Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, also called the revelation "troubling." He encouraged veterans in his district who may be concerned to contact his district office for assistance.

"It is completely unacceptable that proper protocols were not being followed, but I applaud the actions taken to relieve the employee at fault from their duties," he said in a statement.

The hospital acknowledged this week that it is notifying 526 patients that the use of an improperly cleaned medical scope may have put them at risk of infection.

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Fort Drum Shooting Left Wife and State Police Officer Dead

UPDATE WZZM News
Friends recall West Michigan ties of soldier accused of double murder

Multiple friends and acquaintances tell WZZM 13 that Walters was expelled from West Ottawa Middle School after he made a bomb threat against the school and apparently had a "hit list" of people at the school. This would have been in the late 1990s. 

"They searched his locker and they found a hit list with a list of people to kill," says one person who did not want to be identified.

UPDATE
Suspect in Trooper's killing served 2 12-month deployments in Afghanistan
Posted: Jul 10, 2017
FORT DRUM, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) - A Fort Drum soldier accused of killing his wife and also a State Trooper on Sunday night served two year-long deployments in Afghanistan, the base said on Monday.

A native of Zeeland, Mich., 32-year-old Justin Walters is listed as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army.

Walters has been stationed at Fort Drum for 10 years.

An infantryman, he served in Afghanistan from January 2009 to January 2010 and from March 2011 to March 2012.
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The Latest: Police: Combat Veteran Killed Wife, NY Trooper

Authorities say an Afghanistan combat veteran fatally shot his wife in the driveway of their northern New York home then gunned down a state trooper who had responded to reports of gunfire at the couple's rural property.

July 10, 2017, at 2:14 p.m.

THERESA, N.Y. (AP) — The Latest on the death of a New York State Police trooper (all times local): 2:10 p.m. 

Authorities say an Afghanistan combat veteran fatally shot his wife in the driveway of their northern New York home, and then gunned down a state trooper who had responded to reports of gunfire at the couple's rural property. 

State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II says Monday that 32-year-old Army Staff Sgt. Justin Walters shot his 27-year-old wife, Nichole, on Sunday night outside their home in the town of Theresa. 

Beach says 36-year-old Trooper Joel Davis was shot once in the torso after getting out of his cruiser about 75 feet from the home near Fort Drum. Another trooper arriving on the scene found Davis in a roadside ditch. Davis died about an hour later at a hospital. 

Walters was charged with first-degree murder in Davis' slaying and second-degree murder in his wife's killing.
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More details on fatal shooting of NYS Trooper

By BETH ADAMS & ASSOCIATED PRESS • 2 HOURS AGO

A friend of a young mother slain along with a state trooper in northern New York says she was devoted to her son and always willing to help people. 

Jerry Mikels says he was shocked when he heard Army Staff Sgt. Justin Walters was charged in the shooting death Sunday night of his 27-year-old wife Nichole and New York State Trooper Joel Davis. Mikels said he didn't think Justin Walters would be capable of killing his wife. 

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Innovation Provides Independence for Vietnam Veteran Amputee

For Two Veterans, a Freedom Restored for Independence Day
New York Times
Side Street
By DAVID GONZALEZ
JULY 2, 2017

“This is the first device that intuitively moves multiple joints at one time. With other technology, you had to use the hand, then stop. Use the wrist, then stop. It wasn’t fluid.” Dr. Leif Nelson

Fred Downs, who received a state-of-the-art prosthetic arm on Friday. “With a prosthetic limb, your independence and dignity are returned to you,” he said. “This is freedom, let me tell you.” Credit David Gonzalez/The New York Times

This Fourth of July weekend, Fred Downs and Artie McAuley will treasure independence in ways most of us take for granted, like grabbing a soda from a table or reaching into a pocket to answer a cellphone. And though football season has yet to start, for the first time in nearly a half-century Mr. McAuley will be able to raise both arms to celebrate a touchdown.

These simple, daily movements represent to them freedom in an intensely personal way: Both are Army veterans who lost part or all of an arm while in the service. Mr. Downs, a platoon leader in Vietnam, lost his left arm just above the elbow when he stepped on a land mine during a firefight in 1968. Mr. McAuley was assigned to an ordnance unit in upstate New York when a car accident cost him his left arm and part of the shoulder in 1969.

The men celebrated the start of the Independence Day weekend by becoming the first two recipients, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, of astate-of-the-art robotic arm that uses computers, sensors and motors to give back to them the simple, but essential, functions they had lost in their youth. The arm — known as Life Under Kinetic Evolution or LUKE — is the result of an eight-year research project by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (known as Darpa) and private companies. Unlike current prosthetics available for upper limb amputees, the LUKE arm allows for smooth and simultaneous movement using motors at the shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand to flex and turn or lift and grip.

Dr. Leif Nelson, who worked on the development of the LUKE arm, said that the number of people who had lost arms relative to those who had lost legs was too small to spur private research and development. That’s when Darpa, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs, funded studies to develop the latest prosthesis. They in turn were able to enlist private companies, working with Dean Kamen, who invented the Segway.
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Missing Veteran Alert: Navy Veteran

Family, friends to search for missing Patchogue veteran
Newsday
By Martin C. Evans
Updated June 30, 2017

Rebecca Barra poses with a photo of her mom Janet Barra, 58, a Navy veteran living in Patchogue Tuesday, June, 28, 2017. Rebecca Barra has been missing for the past twenty-two days and is struggling with depression but always stayed in touch with her daughter. (Credit: John Roca)

Janet Barra, 58, of Patchogue, had struggled with depression since her days in the Navy but had always stayed in touch with her daughter, Rebecca.

That was until the morning of June 5, when she parked her car at a strip mall in Medford, left her purse, identification and bank card behind, and was seen on video headed north on Route 112.

She has not been seen or heard from since.
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Motorcycle Crash Claimed Life of Navy Corpsman

Man killed in Camp Lejeune crash identified as Navy corpsman

Jacksonville Daily News

Amanda Thames

June 29, 2017

Camp Lejeune has identified the man killed in a one-vehicle motorcycle crash on base this week.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Sean Youngwelch, 29, of Buffalo, New York died in a motorcycle crash Tuesday, said First Lt. Eric Abrams with the base’s public affairs office, but the details of the crash itself remain few.

“The specifics of the situation are still pending investigation,” Abrams said.

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Deployment didn't stop Air Force Sergeant from College Graduation

Air Force sergeant graduates college via Skype
WGRZ News
Jeff Preval
May 14, 2017

"First, I would like to thank President Conway-Turner, as well as, the faculty and staff of Buffalo State," Winters said. "I would also like to thank my family, as well as my wonderful fiancee Kathleen Peterson and her family who is attending the ceremony here today, tomorrow we'll begin a new challenge taking on the world head on."

BUFFALO, NY - Some very special accommodations were made Saturday morning so a Buff State senior, who is abroad serving in the military, could graduate on time.

U.S. Air Force Sergeant Adam Winters, who's from Rochester, was deployed to Southwest Asia three months ago, as he began his final semester at Buff State. Winters is an aerial port specialist, loading cargo and passengers onto military aircraft. The deployment meant Winters would have to take online courses abroad, so he could graduate on time.
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Vietnam Veterans Formed Tight Bonds to Heal Combat PTSD Together

Albany area vets get less VA therapy, but support each other
LMT Online
By Claire Hughes
April 15, 2017

The vets' former therapist, now retired, had handpicked them to be together, and they have formed tight bonds, said group member Peter Risatti, 72, of Tyringham, Mass. 

East Greenbush
They don't get as much professional help with their PTSD as they used to, but a dozen or so Vietnam veterans are doing what they can to keep each other strong.

The Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany last year ended the type of group therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder that the vets had received for about 15 years. The VA offered the vets different therapists and approaches, but not all together and not in a way they were accustomed to, as the group tells it. The big difference, from the vets' perspective, was that the new therapy would require them to confront their combat experience, 40-50 years after they'd been at war. The rules of their old therapy were to never exhume those memories — "you didn't go back into Country" is how they put it — unless everyone in the room agreed to it.

The vets, in their late 60s and older, think the time has passed for them to face down the blood and gore they witnessed.

"They're not tailoring it to us," said Tom Gage, 72, from South Egremont, Mass. "They're tailoring us to them."

The vets' former therapist, now retired, had handpicked them to be together, and they have formed tight bonds, said group member Peter Risatti, 72, of Tyringham, Mass. The group focused on issues in their current lives ignited by their PTSD — anger, anxiety, alcohol abuse. In an interview last year, some of the men said there were no other people in the world they talked to about anything, ever.

After a story appeared in the Times Union in January 2016, fellow veterans offered the guys support to get their therapy reinstated, and a protest was planned for the end of March, Risatti said.

Then a psychologist at the VA, a veteran herself, offered to facilitate the group, he said. The guys like her. But instead of a 90-minute session every week, the vets now get 60 minutes every other week. And that hour-long session can be shortened if an earlier scheduled meeting in their room runs long.
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Maj. Gen. Francisco Espaillat Died But Left a Legacy

There are some Generals that make you cringe when they walk into a room. Then there are Generals like Maj. Gen. Francisco Espaillat that make you want to walk over to them and give them a big hug.

Last year at Orlando Rocks Maj. Gen. Francisco Espaillat was the guest speaker. He was a lot more than that when he told the crowd about his history as well as explaining how important military families are. 

He didn't stop smiling the whole day.

 

He even let us lock him up! 

Army Reserve general dies after collapsing during physical fitness training
Army Times
By: Staff
April 8, 2017

An Army Reserve major general died Friday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, officials announced Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Francisco Espaillat collapsed Friday during individual physical training and was rushed by ambulance to Womack Army Medical Center, where medical staff pronounced him dead, according to a news release.

The 56-year-old, who was from New York City, was assigned to General Officer Support, Office of the Chief of Army Reserve, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

He received his second star only a couple of weeks ago, on March 27. He had been selected to serve as the chief of staff for U.S. Army Reserve Command.

"Just last month I had the privilege of promoting him in a low-key ceremony at my office in Washington, D.C.," said Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, the Army Reserve chief and commanding general of U.S. Army Reserve Command, in a statement. "This was just his style, as a soldier he was humble, never seeking recognition. He was a splendid soldier who embodied leadership, energy and a relentless spirit of execution in everything he did."
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This is the video from his inspiring speech.

Double Amputee Veteran Becomes Titanium NY Police Officer

Marine veteran who lost both legs in Afghanistan sworn in as NY police officer
FOX News
March 25, 2017

A Long Island man who served in the Marines and lost both legs below the knees after stepping on a bomb in Afghanistan was sworn in Friday as possibly the first fully active duty double amputee police officer in the country.

Matias Ferreira, 28, graduated from the Suffolk County Police Academy in Brentwood, L.I. His first assignment as a precinct patrol officer begins next week. He told Fox 5 New York he isn’t worried if he breaks a leg on the job.

“If I break my leg I go the trunk of my car and put on a new one and I’m back on duty,” he told the station.

The 2011 blast in Afghanistan shattered his legs, forcing doctors to amputate. The machine-gunner spent nearly a year recovering in a hospital outside Washington.

Ferreira stands on titanium prosthetics, Newsday reported. He dreamed of being a cop as a kid.
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Air Force Staff Sgt. Died in Jordan Loading Bomb

UPDATE

Airmen mourn 'mom of the flight line' killed in noncombat incident in Jordan

Air Force announces non-combat death of staff sergeant in Jordan
UPI
By Ed Adamczyk
March 24, 2017

March 24 (UPI) -- The Department of Defense announced the death of Air Force Staff Sgt. Alexandria Mae Gleason Morrow, who died in a non-combat role earlier this week.

Gleason-Morrow, 25, died Wednesday while performing maintenance duties in Jordan in support of combat operations, a Defense Department statement said. The incident is under investigation.

She was a resident of Dansville, N.Y., serving in the Middle East with the 366th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron of Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho. Her mother told WHEC-TV, Rochester, that she died while loading a bomb onto an airplane.
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Air Force Dad Gets Warm Welcome Home From Baby in Glasses

WATCH: BABY SEES DAD FOR FIRST TIME WITH GLASSES AFTER EMOTIONAL MILITARY HOMECOMING
ABC 7 News
Jennifer Matarese
March 13, 2017

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A baby boy in upstate New York is melting hearts after a video captured him seeing his father for the first time with glasses after a two-month deployment.

9-month-old Reagan had just gotten his new glasses right after his father, Brandon Caldwell, was deployed to Antarctica. Captain Caldwell has served in the Air Force for a decade.

Reagan's mother, Amanda, took the video of the happy reunion and was delighted that she got this emotional moment on camera. In fact, she said that Brandon was worried that Reagan might not remember him. That was certainly not the case!
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