Courtesy Photo | Nancy Mullen and her husband, WO1 Sean Mullen, pose for a photo at the 5th Special...... read more read more
When she first married her husband, Warrant Officer 1 Sean Mullen, Nancy Mullen never imagined she would end up and advocate for Gold Star spouses meeting with politicians and helping write legislation.
Nancy met her husband in 2004 while he was a Pathfinder instructor with her brother. They were in Alaska training when Nancy went to visit her brother.
“We started dating cross-country – Alaska to Georgia,” she said. “That got old really quick.”
She moved to be closer to him and they were married in 2005.
Sean spent 11 years in the Infantry before he began his special forces training in 2004. He became a Special Forces medic in 2007 with 5th Special Forces Group and became a warrant officer in November 2012. He deployed to Afghanistan January 2013 and was killed in an IED attack on June 2, 2013, his sixth deployment.
“He told me before he left that it was going to be a lot more dangerous than some of his prior missions, so he was definitely more serious about it,” Nancy said. “We probably had our first real serious talk about what could possibly happen.”
There was an Afghani national injured in the explosion as well, but Sean was the only Soldier killed in the attack.
“It was a Sunday and I found out that night,” Nancy said.
A casualty assistance officer and a chaplain came out to inform her and stayed with her until friends arrived.
“A lot of his friends say he literally saved their lives,” Nancy said. “[He was] very dedicated, very knowledgeable. Continuously learning. Definitely the ultimate quiet professional. He never wanted people to know what he did, who he was with – very security conscious. I think sometimes he’d just shake his head with how public I am right now about everything as opposed to what I was before.”
Something that Nancy said helped her was a formal packet of important information that 5th SFG had Sean fill out before he deployed. The packet included her husband’s funeral wishes and how she was to be notified.
“That became incredibly important,” she said. “Having that packet and not having to guess as to would he want a Mass, where would he like to be buried, who would he like for his pallbearers to be – that was all in that packet.”
The casualty assistance officer waited to inform Nancy until the time Sean instructed would be best for her to receive the news.
“Group has been incredibly supportive from the start and continues to be for me,” Nancy said. “I don’t know what I would have done without all those guys and their Families.”
Nancy does not have Family in the area so until they could arrive she relied on friends as well as Sean’s teammates in 5th SFG.
“They were amazing. Everything was just taken care of. I don’t know who fed my dogs for like the first month, but I’m sure I didn’t,” she said. “They had food coming to the house and I never did laundry. Everything just kind of happened around me and it was just so nice to not have to worry about all those little day-to-day things.”
Nancy continues to be involved in 5th SFG activities including changes of command. Additionally, when someone new arrives at the unit, an old teammate makes sure to introduce them so Nancy does not lose connection with 5th SFG as Soldiers cycle in and out of Fort Campbell.
“The military community is very supportive, very close, especially for me with 5th [Special Forces] Group,” Nancy said. “It’s a much smaller community than the big Army.”
She also is grateful to Fort Campbell’s Army Community Service Survivor Outreach Services for helping her stay connected with the community and connecting her with other survivors.
“I’ve unfortunately heard some bad stories from some other SOSs in different areas. I think we’ve got probably one of the best,” Nancy said. “They’re very helpful, very willing to help you with anything you’ve got going on.”
Nancy said she is impressed how the SOS staff go out of their way to host various events for survivors to get together, whether it is simply dining out together or hosting different support groups.
“As great as my friends and my Family are, until you’ve been there you just don’t know,” she said. “And they don’t know how to help either. They’re hurting too, and they know you’re hurting and they’re trying to be supportive, but there’s nothing like being around other people who have been in that same situation.”
Because she lives in Adams and works in Nashville, Nancy is not as active with the Fort Campbell SOS or the Gold Star spouses as she would like, but she is still active in advocating for survivors.
“I’ve gotten a lot more involved in advocating for different bills both on the national level and here at the state level,” Nancy said. “For me I feel like I have flexibility with work and a better situation financially than many military spouses. I feel like all of us who can should advocate for our military benefits.”
She serves on the Government Relations Committee to advocate for the benefits of all Gold Star spouses whether they’re members of the national organization or not.
“We helped write testimony that was presented last month at the joint House and Senate Veteran Affairs committee in DC and a member of our committee actually testified,” Nancy said.
She said Gold Star Wives of America members spend much of their time watching bills that are introduced and either endorsing or fighting against them.
“I and several other spouses worked to get our [Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship] education bill extended for the early post 9/11 surviving spouses and that was actually passed in December of 2016,” Nancy said. “That gave them up to an additional five years.”
The Fry Scholarship was passed in 2015, giving surviving spouses 15 years from the date of their Soldier’s death to go back to school. But for survivors who lost their spouse on Sept. 11, 2001 or shortly thereafter, 14 years had already passed. The extension altered the start date of education benefits to Jan. 1, 2006, and so those spouses have additional time to take advantage of the benefit.
Nancy is the Gold Star Wives of America representative in the Tennessee Veteran’s Committee and they are working to restore the property tax relief benefit for 100 percent disabled veterans and surviving spouses.
“We used to be granted up to $175,000 of tax assessed value for free,” Nancy said. “That benefit was reduced in 2014 to $100,000. We’re trying to boost that back up, particularly in a year [when] the state has a $1.1 billion surplus.”
She also helped TVet get a bill passed to allow private businesses to use veterans preference when hiring without being sued. That preference also extends to surviving spouses.
The national level of the Gold Star Wives of America is pushing for several issues, including an increase in dependency and indemnity compensation benefits, she said, and to elimination of the survivor benefits plan/dependency and indemnity compensation offset or a longer term extension and increase of the special survivor indemnity allowance and the removal of remarriage penalties.
“We need to advocate for ourselves,” Nancy said. “No one is going to advocate for us, like we can. Fortunately there aren’t a lot of us, but unfortunately there aren’t a lot of us when it comes to lobbying. It’s very hard to have our voices heard when there aren’t that many nationwide. It’s a good thing – we don’t want there to be a lot more military surviving spouses – but it does make it a challenge when we’re up there against all the lobbyists that are very well funded.”
It is important for survivors to share their stories, she said, because all too often she has come across people who think being a Gold Star spouse is akin to winning the lottery because of the benefits they receive.
“My annuities that I get because of Sean … they’re less than 30 percent of his gross income when he was alive,” Nancy said. “So it’s a huge hit to the household.”
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 04.07.2017 12:29 |
| Story ID: | 229558 |
| Location: | FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US |
| Hometown: | ADAMS, TN, US |
| Web Views: | 36 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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