U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took questions ranging in topic from veterans in the work force to Somali pirates, in a town-hall event Thursday at the Walter Cronkite School.
The event drew dozens of veterans and ROTC students to the Cronkite School’s First Amendment Forum, which was filled with spectators, many wearing military uniforms. ASU students and faculty, and members of the public were also in attendance.
ASU President Michael Crow introduced Mullen, who, as the chairman, is the highest-ranking military official in the country and reports directly to President Barack Obama, who nominated Mullen for a second term after starting under President George W. Bush in 2007.
“It’s probably one of the toughest jobs that anyone could possibly imagine,” Crow said.
Mullen spoke for about 20 minutes before taking questions and expressed the need for military members and veterans to be engaged in their communities and for the military to take care of its veterans.
“I spend an awful lot of time recruiting a young soldier, sailor, airman, marine, coast guardsman — a lot of time, money and effort recruiting, training and investing in them for their time in the military,” Mullen said. “And then when their time comes up, and they make a decision to leave the military, I hand them a duffel bag and say, ‘Have a nice life.’ And that’s the motto we’ve had in this country for decades.”
Mukesh Ropeta, a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow from Pakistan, asked about the U.S.’s “strained relationship” with his home country. Mullen mentioned the recent tension from the controversy surrounding Raymond Davis, who allegedly killed two Pakistanis and was later reported to have been working with the CIA.
“We need to be able to sustain this relationship through thick and thin,” Mullen said. “Through times that aren’t good, times that are tough. Right now is a very difficult time because of the Davis case.”
Ropeta said he was happy with Mullen’s response and for the chance to question such a high-level official but that he was disappointed with the student turnout at the event.
“I think this is good exposure,” Ropeta said. “I think the students of Cronkite are lucky that they are getting such an opportunity to meet (Mullen) here. I was very sorry that I could not find more students.”
The town hall covered two other high-profile international relations topics: the riots in Libya and Somali pirates. Mullen reviewed international sanctions placed on Libya to try to pressure Col. Moammar Gadhafi without any military action. He also mentioned the Navy’s increased focus on Somalia’s coast but also the difficulty of preventing piracy.
“This, oftentimes, can be needle-in-a-haystack work,” Mullen said. “It’s a big ocean.”
Other topics discussed revolved around the military’s treatment of veterans, which Mullen thinks is especially important from a recruiting standpoint, since people would hear about veterans’ positive experiences.
“They essentially become our recruiters,” Mullen said. “They’re the ones that are talking about their story, their life in the military, in a positive way. And you get the 10-year-olds and the 12-year-olds and the 14-year-olds that hear these stories, and make up their minds that they want to go do something like that.”
Contact the reporter at john.l.fitzpatrick@asu.edu
