Mullen Underscores Importance of Academy Experience
(January 7, 2010) | 
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| | FORT WORTH, TEXAS, Dec. 31, 2009 – On hand for a pair of service academy
football bowl games in Texas today, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, underscored the symbolism of the matchups for troops around the
world. |
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| Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, addresses the U.S. Air Force Academy Falcons
football team on Dec. 30, 2009, before their appearance in the Armed
Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas. The Falcons defeated the
University of Houston Cougars 47-20 on New Years Eve. DoD photo by
U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley |
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But he also emphasized the importance of looking at an academy experience as a
potential for launching careers as military officers.
“These games are watched around the world and the players playing in them know
that so that they represent great institutions,” he said in an interview before
the Armed Forces Bowl here that pitted the Air Force Academy against the
University of Houston.
Mullen, who returned recently from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, said the
games in which service academies appear resonate with military personnel
stationed in the Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries.
“I just returned from being overseas for a week and some of the discussions I
had with players were about these games,” he said. “They're very proud of the
teams and what they represent.”
The chairman said one of the things he reminds players of is the institutions
and the country they represent – a sense of scale and magnitude that young
players often find hard to comprehend.
“My recollection of being at that age is you don't realize per se how special
cadets or midshipmen are, and who they represent,” Mullen said.
The chairman said his presence at the game here, and later at the Texas Bowl in
Houston, in which the Naval Academy faced off with Missouri, was to remind them
of the resonance of their mission and to show the nation's appreciation for
their service.
A day earlier in a pep talk to the Air Force team, Mullen shared an anecdote
about meeting a former center on the Falcon team who had planned to conclude his
service in the Air Force after his stint at the academy and once his mandatory
service tenure was complete. But that player, now a captain who Mullen met
during his recent trip Afghanistan, decided to take another look at the Air
Force as a career, he said.
“He said, ‘I got commissioned, and it's probably something I'm going to do for a
career,'” Mullen said yesterday, recalling his conversation with the young
airman in Afghanistan. He added that it's not uncommon for troops to attend a
service academy for one reason, then remain in the military for another – a
model that echoes Mullen's own.
“I actually made the decision to go to the service academy without a long-term
vision,” he said of his decision to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Md. “Initially I was only going to be there two years ... of course, it worked out
a little differently.”
Asked what caused him to decide to remain in military for a career, Mullen cited
two reasons.
“First, it would be the mission and serving your country. And then secondly,
it's the people,” he said. “I met the best people of my entire life when I
showed up at Annapolis; it's been that way right through today: people that
care, people that you want to be around, teammates just like this football team
here today that really are making a difference and doing something bigger than
anything for themselves, so in that regard they're a very special group, as are
all the service academies.”
Not trivializing the gravity of today's bowl games, Mullen predicted –
accurately, it turns out – that both teams would win in exciting games.
“Yes, they're focused on a football game, there should be no other focus today,”
he said. “But there's also a lot to look forward to.” | |
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2009
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