Posts Tagged Navy Adm. Mike Mullen
Mullens Leave Legacy of Family Support
Posted by in Family Matters on September 30, 2011
By Elaine Sanchez
Elaine.sanchez@dma.mil
Sept. 30, 2011
I’ve heard Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife, Deborah, speak at a variety of events, and can’t remember a time when the topic didn’t turn at some point to military families.
Even today, with the admiral’s retirement at hand, military families’ service and sacrifice remain front and center for this 40-plus year military couple.
In his farewell message to the armed forces today, Mullen said serving troops and their families has been the greatest privilege of his life.
“Everywhere Deborah and I went to see you and your families we walked away humbled by the magnitude of the responsibility you have volunteered to carry and strengthened by the willingness and dignity with which you carry it,” he wrote.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the burdens placed on you and your families,” he added. “Your sacrifices will be forever fixed in my heart, and I am eternally grateful for your service.”
During their four-year tenure, the Mullens have worked to bring light to the sacrifices made each day by troops and their families, and to improve the support offered to them.
This past summer, I attended the launch of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership, a DOD program aimed at expanding job opportunities for military spouses. The Mullens were there to help kick off the program along with Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, another staunch military family advocate.
In her remarks, Mrs. Mullen acknowledged the difficulties military spouses face in finding jobs, not due to their qualifications or training, but due to their frequent moves.
Most of those job seekers are women, she noted at the time, “educated, resilient, serious women who possess strong values and even stronger work ethic.”
Spouse employment is just one of the many family issues the Mullens have addressed. To name just a few, they’ve spotlighted the importance of seeking mental health care, worked to improve care for wounded warriors, and reached out to the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Through his “Conversation With the Country” initiative, the chairman has encouraged local communities to understand the value of veterans and their families.
With his own farewell message sent, Mullen read his wife’s farewell to families during his retirement ceremony today.
“Nothing can be more trying at times than life in the military — the deployments, the stress, the uncertainty and the fear,” the admiral read. “But then, nothing born from ease and comfort can ever foster the pride and the resilience that military families exude every day.
“It has been my honor — my deep honor — to be a military spouse and a Navy wife, and to know so many others who wait and worry and work so hard.
“Thank you for your quiet sacrifice and for empowering me to represent your concerns. It has been the greatest privilege. I will miss the life and I will miss all of you.”
The Mullens may be headed off to what the admiral previously has called “a long winter’s nap,” but they leave behind a legacy of military family support that will last for decades to come.
Blogger Urges Readers to ‘Restore Hope’
Posted by in Family Matters on September 9, 2010
Heather Forsgren Weaver, a colleague of mine at American Forces Press Service, is a regular contributor to Family Matters. Heather’s been heavily involved in this blog from the start. She edits, helps write and posts content on a daily basis.
In this blog, Heather writes about the AFPS Web special report, “Restoring Hope: You Can Help Save A Life.”
Remembering a Friend, Restoring Hope
by Heather Forsgren Weaver
Sept. 9, 2010
It was a sunny June morning in 2001 when I got the phone call. “Jared’s dead. He shot himself.” Jared was my brother in every sense except blood. Even almost a decade later, it still seems unreal that he’s gone.
I thought of Jared while reading stories in the American Forces Press Service Web special report, “Restoring Hope: You Can Help Save A Life.” In these stories, servicemembers share the despair they felt and how they sought and received help. Army Capt. Emily Stehr, for example, talks about how she asked for help after she found herself envying the dead as she walked her cousin’s dog past a cemetery and realized those buried there were at peace.
The military has seen a rise in suicides since 2001. In fiscal year 2009, 160 soldiers took their own lives, while there were more than 1,700 attempted suicides. (See the AFPS article, “Army Releases Suicide Report, Prevention Recommendations.”)
The Restoring Hope special was launched in recognition of Suicide Prevention Month as a way to encourage people to act to prevent someone or even themselves from committing suicide. In addition to servicemembers’ stories, the site offers advice on how to recognize symptoms of depression, withdrawal, hopelessness and other signals that may warn someone is considering suicide.
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Mullen Presses for More Family Support
Posted by in Family Matters on July 9, 2010
Heather Forsgren Weaver, a colleague of mine at American Forces Press Service, is a regular contributor to Family Matters. Heather’s been heavily involved in this blog from the start. She edits, helps write and posts content on a daily basis.
In this blog, Heather writes about a recent podcast by Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife Deborah where they talked about increasing support for Guard and Reserve families.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, greets U.S. Army Spc. Dennis Morgan, Jr., and Autumn Gustausen during a departure ceremony for members of the Vermont National Guard in Burlington, Vt., Jan. 8, 2010. Morgan is deploying for a yearlong tour to Afghanistan as a member of the 89th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley
Family Networks Are Important
By Heather Forsgren Weaver
July 9, 2010
With all of the stresses of military life, families need support systems and the nation’s top military leader is working to make sure programs are available to eliminate the isolation that some National Guard and Reserve members and their families feel.
In a recent podcast, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife Deborah, expressed support for Guard and Reserve families.
Throughout his career, Mullen and his family have not felt the isolation felt by many Guard and Reserve families because they had a support network.
“In that family support network, there is a common understanding about what it means to be deployed. What it means to make the kind of transitions that we are asking so many of these families to make,” Mullen said. “When you get to the Guard and Reserve, they are isolated and they don’t have that support network.”
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