Ben Lahan was born to a privileged home in Union Vale, located in upstate New York’s Hudson Valley. The eldest of two sons, Ben was always something of an overachiever and always, almost obsessively, devoted himself earning his personal successes entirely on his own.

Ben Lahan was a West Point graduate, and played on both the ice hockey and lacrosse teams. Like so many Point grads, he entered the U.S. Army as a 2nd Lieutenant. Unlike so many Point grads though, Ben never once chose to fall back on those ‘laurels’ to skate through to expected promotions and standing.

He married Miriam Denise (nee Cooke) in his mid-20s, a marriage that by all accounts was very happy. Ben and Miriam had two children, Thomas “Tom” (21) and Adrienne (17). Where Miriam remained a dedicated stay-at-home mother, raising their children and keeping straight all the myriad responsibilities of an officer’s – and then a commander’s – wife, Ben’s career took off like a shot. Smart, competent, clever and damn hard worker, by the time of the Sino-Korean War, MG Benjamin Lahan commanded the 4th ID out of Fort Carson, CO.

During that time though, Miriam succumbed to ovarian cancer at the age of 44. When his deployment ended, Ben chose to take over the command at The Mountain, forgoing a more politically advantageous position to spend additional time with his youngest child Adrienne.

Things did not work out according to plan. (WIP)