Mullen Praises Troops, Families on ‘Daily Show’

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2011 – For a U.S. military leader trying to reach a different audience, it doesn’t get much more different than “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was Stewart’s guest for the third time on the popular Comedy Central show last night.

Mullen joked with the satirist about his plans for retirement and his decision to join the Navy in 1964. And on a more serious note, he stressed the need for military leaders to hear a range of opinions before making decisions.

Stewart has been spending a lot of time with the chairman. He traveled to Afghanistan with Mullen this summer to thank troops in remote combat outposts and forward operating bases for their service. Stewart called it his “summer vacation.”

Mullen, whose father was a Hollywood publicist, joked about escaping Los Angeles in 1964 when he entered the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Stewart asked about the chairman’s plans after his retirement at the end of the month. “A long winter’s nap,” Mullen responded.

The discussion turned to weightier matters, and the chairman praised the men and women who are serving today. They have served multiple deployments, he noted, and have done everything the country has asked them to do.

“I’ve been doing this a long time -- since 1968 -- and unquestionably, they are superb,” he said.

Mullen said he and his wife, Deborah, who accompanied the chairman to the taping, try to represent the needs of service members and their families. “We try to stay in touch with them, so we understand what they are doing and what we are asking them to do, including the ultimate sacrifice,” the chairman told Stewart. “I tell them … there isn’t a decision I make or recommendation I make that doesn’t take their needs … into account. The strength of our military is those men and women and their families.”

During last month’s trip, Stewart said, he was surprised that Mullen had surrounded himself with people whose jobs were to challenge him and his thinking.

“What I’ve found over the years as I’ve gotten into jobs with more responsibility is the diversity of opinions and views is absolutely critical,” the chairman said. “It allows me, in the end, to make the best decision.”

'Stand Up for Heroes' Honors Wounded Sailors

From Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- More than 75 wounded warriors and their caregivers – including four Sailors affiliated with Navy Safe Harbor – were celebrated during Bob Woodruff Foundation's "Stand Up for Heroes" event in Washington, D.C., June 16.

Lt. Samuel Caldwell, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician 1st Class Todd Hammond, Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class James Raffetto, and Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Max Rohn – all of whom were injured during combat – and their families and friends attended the star-studded event hosted by Bob and Lee Woodruff.

The reception drew more than 800 people, including senior military officials, corporate and association executives, members of the media, congressional leaders, and Administration officials. During the seated dinner program, The Daily Show celebrity Jon Stewart and the 2011 Grammy Award-winning band Train provided entertainment.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said to the wounded warriors in attendance, "I am continually amazed by your grit and resilience."

When he assumed his post, his first thought of visiting wounded service members, Gates said, "I wasn't sure I could handle it, or what I would say. Seeing firsthand the incredible sacrifice ... I frankly wasn't sure I could keep it together."

Gates said people kept telling him, "'[The wounded warriors] will lift you up.' And you have," he said. "More than you can possibly imagine."

"I am tremendously humbled to be here and to meet people like Secretary Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen [chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]," said Caldwell about the event. "And it's an honor to see all of these wounded warriors, who remind me how lucky I am to still have all of my limbs. They make me feel as though my sacrifices were worth it."

Caldwell sustained a spinal cord injury in 2008 while he was deployed to Iraq as an Individual Augmetee.

Raffetto echoed Caldwell's sentiments, saying, "Sometimes it seems like the media has forgotten those of us who were injured in combat. But events like this show that many people still care. It's great to be here among other wounded warriors and the people who support us."

Raffetto, a triple amputee, was injured last year by an improvised explosive device blast while deployed to Afghanistan. He was joined at the event by his father, John Raffetto.

Caldwell and Raffetto, as well as Hammond and Rohn, are affiliated with Navy Safe Harbor, the Navy and Coast Guard's wounded warrior support program. Safe Harbor provides a lifetime of individually tailored assistance designed to optimize the success of enrollees' recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration activities. The program works closely with the Bob Woodruff Foundation and other organizations to garner additional support for seriously wounded, ill, and injured Sailors and Coast Guardsmen.

"The Bob Woodruff Foundation and other non-government organizations are key to helping the Service's wounded warrior programs fulfill unmet needs of wounded service members and their families," said Kelly C. Dempsey, Navy Safe Harbor's Family Programs and Charitable resources coordinator. "They're also instrumental in spreading the word about how every citizen across this country can take action to support our military and their families, who've been carrying the burden of war for years. No one organization can do it alone. We welcome and are appreciative of the support."

The Bob Woodruff Foundation was co-founded by award-winning television reporter Bob Woodruff and his family after he sustained serious injuries while covering the Iraq war in 2006. The Foundation is building a movement to empower communities nationwide to take action to successfully reintegrate our nation's injured heroes, especially those who have sustained the hidden injuries of war, back into their communities so they may thrive physically, psychologically, socially, and economically.

Proceeds from the "Stand Up for Heroes" event will support the Bob Woodruff Foundation's efforts to ensure injured service members, veterans, and their families return to a homefront ready to support them.

Mullen Discusses Egypt, Other Topics on ‘Daily Show’

By Karen Parrish

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2011 – Egypt’s military leaders have assured him they are working to quell any further violence associated with protests in that country while protecting their people, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said last night.

During an interview on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen discussed the situation in Egypt as well as issues facing the U.S. military.

“It has taken not just us, but many people, by surprise,” Mullen said. “We’ve got a 30-year relationship with the people of Egypt, and certainly a very strong relationship from our military to theirs.”

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Egyptian officers and noncommissioned officers have trained at U.S. military schools during those three decades, Mullen said, and there are contacts and relationships between the two nation’s services.

“One of my chief goals right now is to make sure we keep the lines of communication open -- I’ve talked to my counterpart a couple of times –- and also that we’ve got our military ready, should any kind of response or support be required,” he said. “That isn’t the case right now, but I’m very focused on that.”

Egypt has been widely viewed as a stabilizing force in the Middle East since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords in September 1978.

Since Jan. 25, protestors have filled the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities, calling for more freedoms and demanding that President Hosni Mubarak end the 30-year rule he began after Sadat’s assassination in 1981.

“It’s a very volatile situation. It’s evolving, and there’s an awful lot we don’t know,” Mullen said. “Certainty with outcomes and certainty with what’s going to happen tomorrow -– it’s just not there.”

But despite the uncertainty, the chairman said, Egypt’s military has reaffirmed its support of its people and its institutions.

Mullen’s remarks echoed those of President Barack Obama earlier this week praising the Egyptian military’s professionalism and patriotism in allowing peaceful protests to proceed while protecting the nation’s people.

News accounts reported that five anti-government protestors were killed Feb. 2 by Mubarak supporters. In the wake of those deaths, Mullen said, Egypt’s military leaders assured him they were taking steps to quell the violence and had “no intent to fire on their own people.”

“Certainly, we’re all hopeful this can evolve peacefully, with no more violence, and in a way [that] really is representative of the Egyptian people,” he added.

The chairman then responded to questions on the pending repeal of the law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which has barred gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. He noted that he was an early advocate for repeal, explaining that the question to him always had revolved around individual and institutional integrity.

“Our military is an institution that has integrity, has a value, and we grow up with it,” Mullen said. “So it was just very difficult for me to reconcile -- for an institution that values integrity so much -- how we could ask someone to serve, and actually to die, for our country, and then have to lie about who they are every single day. It wasn’t reconcilable, from my perspective.”

As the Defense Department moves to prepare the force for the law’s repeal, Mullen said, he is delighted the change is coming. But he acknowledged that the repeal will be implemented during a difficult time for the nation’s military and stressed the importance of doing it right.

“It’s got to be done well, and carefully,” he said. “The service chiefs, the leaders, the head of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marine Corps, are all about setting up to do that now.”

The admiral added that he expects the implementation to happen “fairly rapidly.”

While he first weighed in against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law during his 2007 confirmation hearing, Mullen noted, he didn’t know which way the question would be decided.

“I’ve been in Washington long enough to know that politics are pretty difficult to predict,” he said. It was really up to the American people to make their feelings known to their elected officials, he added.

“I believe the American people, through their representatives, changed this legislation,” the chairman said. “And I’m very comfortable with that.”

The people serving in uniform today will not have a problem accepting the new policy, Mullen said.

“I’ve been doing this for over 40 years, and this is the best group of young men and women I’ve ever served with,” he said. “I believe they can do just about anything. They really are that good.”

Since he started his Navy career in 1968, Mullen said, he always has been aware he served alongside gay service members.

“Anybody that has been in for a long time will tell you that,” he said. “All of this … focuses in a positive way on our people, and we’re nothing without our people.”

Mullen then turned to what the nation owes its people in uniform, a topic he has spoken about in venues across the nation since April, when he started his “Conversations with the Country” series of speeches.

Americans are very supportive of today’s service members, the chairman said, noting that as a Vietnam veteran, he worried when the current wars began whether that would be the case.

“I don’t worry about that any more,” he said. “But [veterans] are coming back from these wars changed, and I really am hopeful that local community leaders will take them in, take their families in, [and] recognize the potential.”

Mullen said today’s veterans want to serve their nation and make a difference in the future. They will do so, he said, if the country gives them support in health, employment and education.

“I think it just takes a little bit of investment [from] the local community to help them make that transition as they come back from these wars,” he said, “and they’ll make a huge difference long term.

The nation owes today’s veterans a debt “we almost can’t meet,” the chairman added.

Mullen also discussed the military’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’re coming out of Iraq. … We’re due to be out of there by the end of this year, based on the current agreement we have with the Iraqis,” he said. “We will start withdrawing our troops in Afghanistan this summer, in July, but really turn it over in 2014.”

While coalition and Afghan forces are making good progress in Afghanistan, the chairman said, it’s a difficult fight.

“I think it’s going to be a while before we’re out of Afghanistan, in terms of getting it where we think it needs to go,” Mullen said.