News
Veteran Visits Rumson Schools
By Ryan Fennell
RUMSON - In honor of Veterans Day, Army Sergeant Jeff Mullin, an Iraq veteran, presented the Deane Porter and Forrestdale schools in Rumson with two United States flags that were flown in Iraq during Mullin's tour of duty.
Principal Richard Karas relayed questions to Mullin that the students had prepared and Mullin answered as many as he could during the Veterans Day celebration.
The students questions ranged from the types of equipment the soldiers need and use while serving in Iraq to the food they eat, to what the weather is like, and what kind of animals can be found in the region.
One question presented by a student that Karas thought was especially important was, "What is the most important thing you learned in the Army?"
"Being in the Army there is a set of values you have to live by," Mullin replied. "Out of all the values that we have the biggest is discipline. Always do the right thing at every given moment. You have to be disciplined in every walk of life."
According to Mullin he joined the Army at the age of 17 because he did not like the place where he was raised and believes that he would be much worse off if he had not joined the Army.
"The easiest thing I could have done was go off to college," Mullin said. "But instead I wanted to join the military."
Mullin was sent to Iraq on a one-year deployment, and it was his first time serving in that country. Prior to deploying to Iraq, Mullin was sent to Fort Bliss in Texas where he and other soldiers acclimated to high temperatures so they would be more prepared for the 100-plus degree temperatures in Iraq and Kuwait.
Mullin said that upon there arrival in Kuwait the temperature was above 125 degrees.
Mullin believes that visiting schools and talking to the students in person is very important because it shows the students that the soldiers are real and do appreciate letters and other support sent to them.
"I think the kids need to have a reality especially when they write the letters to actually have somebody let them know their letters actually made it to where they were supposed to," Mullin said. "When I got their letters I put them up in my room."
Mullin said that it's also important to let people know that it isn't only soldiers that have to make sacrifices but families of soldiers as well.
"Not only is it that I served but the family serves as well," said Mullin who is a father and a husband. "It's just as hard, if not harder, on them than it is on me. They live the civilian life but for me I have two lives; one in the military and one as a father and a husband."
"It consumed me before we even left to go to Iraq. I was already in the mindset that I was already there," Mullin added. "It's not just the sacrifices that I and all the other soldiers and sailors and Air Force and Coast Guard make, it's the sacrifices that the families make as well."
While Mullin appreciates the recognition that many communities offer to soldiers on Veterans Day, he believes that New Jersey could do a better job than it currently does.
Mullin relayed a conversation he had with his brother-in-law earlier in the day about the efforts that other areas and even other countries make to recognize veterans compared to those made by New Jersey.
"I have to touch on something my brother-in-law told me this morning," Mullin told The Two River Times™. "Canada celebrates a Veterans Day and they have never had a war but they celebrate it with billboards and banners. Here I think in the State of New Jersey, New Jersey should do more to show something regarding the soldiers here in the state. You go to Pennsylvania and they have billboards, and here it's really kind of mute in a way."
After presenting one flag to the Deane Porter School, Mullin attended another Veterans Day celebration at the Forrestdale School later in the afternoon to present them with a second flag that flew in Iraq during his tour of duty.
