It is with a heavy heart that I write this post to this blog. While I was in Afghanistan I had the distinct honor of having been able to serve with (then) Captain Lance Waldorf. He was a U.S. Army reservist who truly demonstrated the best the reserves have to offer. He was a prior enlisted officer who had never forgotten where he came from. He was one of those soldiers who did his job with pride, and not just because it was his job, but because he truly loved it.

Major Lance Waldorf took his own life on June 4th of this year. It was the day that I returned to the U.S. from my latest deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Word of his death reached me quickly through a mutual friend, and it struck me very hard. I found myself no longer excited to be home, but now completely grief stricken at the loss of this man who truly was a Soldier. I cannot possibly imagine the situation surrounding his decision, but I can say that he would have been about the last person I would have ever guessed would do such a thing.

In his absence I am doing my best to focus on the privilege it was to have known him, and to have been able to serve with him, and I am trying not to focus on his loss. Major Waldorf made the world a better place. He touched the lives of countless Afghan citizens, and he made a positive difference in those lives he touched, including my own.

He will be missed, but never forgotten.

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From the Detroit Free Press:
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Major’s wife says he was depressed

Dark stories from tours kept to himself

BY KORIE WILKINS • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • June 6, 2008

Maj. Lance Waldorf took pride in what he did during two tours in Afghanistan as a civil affairs officer, helping villagers build schools, roads and hospitals.

And, his wife said, he was looking forward to a third tour in Africa in the coming months. As she prepares for his funeral, set for Saturday, Lana Waldorf is comforted by the good her husband did while deployed and her deep Christian faith.

Lance Waldorf, 40, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head Monday at the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly Township. A note, his will and family photos were nearby. While he exhibited signs of depression, Lana Waldorf, 51, said her husband seemed to be doing better in recent days. He was in the U.S. Army Reserves.

“The appeal of being at peace in heaven was greater than the thought of enduring the pain he was in,” Waldorf said Thursday from her Bingham Farms home. “I know Lance is at peace with the Lord. I’m not angry with him. I have forgiven him.”

Waldorf said she supports military efforts in Afghanistan. And one of her husband’s proudest moments in Afghanistan came in 2004, at the end of his first tour, when he was with a group of soldiers feted by villagers.

They feasted on a whole cow, an honor, and a village elder gave Lance Waldorf his ring.

“The man wept openly,” Lana Waldorf recounted. “He said his children and his children’s children would remember what Lance did for his people.

“He made a tremendous difference there.”

But while her husband shared positive stories of his time in Afghanistan, he kept the darker, more difficult tales to himself.

“I saw some symptoms” of depression, she said. “But what I didn’t know were the details of what he was experiencing emotionally or psychologically.”

Officials from the Michigan State Police said a handgun was found near Lance Waldorf’s body. Waldorf, who was part of the 414th Battalion out of Southfield, was wearing a camouflage military uniform.

His struggles are not unique. Last month, U.S. military officials released a report that there were 115 suicides in 2007 by active duty and reservist troops, a 13% increase over 2006.

Lana Waldorf said she believes all returning soldiers should go to mandatory counseling for at least a year. Lance Waldorf, who worked as a financial consultant for the Merrill Lynch office in Auburn Hills, went to some counseling sessions.

“Lance Waldorf was a good man and a colleague who showed great promise, professionally. We were very, very proud of him,” said Dennis Drenikowski, his boss at Merrill Lynch.

Lana Waldorf said her husband was a man of character and integrity who never forgot a birthday or anniversary.

“There are at least 100 people praying for me,” she said. “I feel the strength of those prayers.”

Contact KORIE WILKINS at 248-351-5186 or kwilkins@freepress.com.