He was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Fighter Weapons School and served two combat tours during the Vietnam War.

[4] Unable to transfer to NASA due to age restrictions,[7][8] Lawyer did not achieve his goal of space flight, but continued flying for the Air Force.

[2] In June 2005, security officers examining a long-unused room at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5/6 museum discovered two spacesuits.

[11] The story of the recovered spacesuits and the history of the MOL program was presented in the Public Television series NOVA episode called Astrospies which aired February 12, 2008.

Lawyer had just returned from a hunting trip when he died unexpectedly in his Palmdale, California home of a suspected blood clot.