Military chief accepts local honor
Friday, October 30, 2009
By MIKE PLAISANCE
mplaisance@repub.com
HOLYOKE - U.S. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, strode into a restaurant here Thursday in full dress uniform bedecked with medals, and on the arm of his wife, Deborah.
The top military adviser to President Barak Obama was at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House to receive an award, but also because of a promise he said he made to himself after the Vietnam War - to try to improve the lives of homeless and other struggling veterans.
"You've got to visit with the homeless, you've got to know who they are to get at their problems, and you can't do that from behind a desk," Mullen said.
Mullen was to receive an award at a dinner in his honor from the Northampton-based Soldier On for helping homeless veterans. Springfield law firm Robinson Donovan sponsored the event.
Groups such as Soldier On should be recognized for making a difference for veterans, Mullen said.
"Clearly this organization has done that," Mullen said in remarks to reporters before the dinner.
Military personnel returning to the United States after the Vietnam War weren't embraced, partly because that war was so unpopular, but Mullen said, "The young men and women who serve, they're our most precious resource."
Soldier On, a nonprofit group founded in 1994, has a facility at 421 North Main St. in the Leeds section of Northampton, broke ground for another in Pittsfield Thursday, and may develop a third in Agawam. The mission of the nonprofit is to help homeless veterans get their lives back on track.
Soldier On officials said Mullen has used his status to highlight the need to help homeless veterans.
Because of Mullen, the Defense Department can electronically send a veteran's military records to veterans administration facilities, eliminating bureaucracy and treatment delays, they said.
Mullen has emphasized that the military should begin preparing men and women, from the time they enlist, for their return to civilian life, they said.
"It is a great privilege and pleasure to be here tonight with my wife Deborah," Mullen said. "I don't really accept honors like this personally. It's much more for the 2 million" men and women serving in the military.
The Mullen-Soldier On connection began about two years ago. Mullen invited Soldier On President John F. Downing to meet with him at the Pentagon to discuss the group's work.
Downing thought the meeting would last 15 minutes and was skeptical about getting help from such a big shot, he said before the dinner.
"I'm not a big guy on authority," Downing said.
The meeting lasted more than two hours. Downing said he came away feeling he had a commitment for help.
And having such a high-profile official as Mullen visiting here on behalf of Soldier On, he said, gives the effort a prominence it otherwise wouldn't have.
"I think it validates that we have legitimately impacted what has to happen for homeless veteran services to change," Downing said.
In other remarks, Mullen said the hunt continues for Osama bin Laden, who many people believe masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Bin Laden is "very much on the list of who we would like to capture and kill," he said.