BY DARRELL HALEN
When a select group of young soldiers were commissioned as officers in a White House ceremony attended by President George W. Bush, Windham’s Robert Mulkey was among them.
“It was absolutely amazing,” said Mulkey, 22, after the event. “It definitely was a great honor.”
Mulkey, who was commissioned an Army second lieutenant, was one of 55 ROTC cadets and midshipmen who attended the historic ceremony.
The May 17 event was the first time in U.S. history where a president played a personal role in a joint commissioning involving participants from the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force.
Mulkey was New Hampshire’s representative to the ceremony, where every state, U.S. territory and the District of Columbia were represented.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates administered the oath to the new officers to support and defend the U.S. Constitution against foreign and domestic enemies.
It was an oath Mulkey ceremoniously repeated two days later when former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush administered it to Mulkey and other soldiers during the University of New Hampshire’s May 19 graduation.
On that day, Mulkey received his bachelor of arts degree in political science.
After moving to New Hampshire, Mulkey finished eighth grade at Windham Middle School and graduated from Salem High School in 2002. He spent a year at Brighton Academy in Maine before enrolling at UNH.
There, he was a member of the ROTC program.
“It really appealed to me – a college education, I get leadership abilities,” said Mulkey who seriously considered enlisting when he finished high school but opted for the ROTC route. “To me, it was the best option.”
“I always had the desire to give back to my country,” he added.
Going through the ROTC program, Mulkey attended Mountain Warfare School in Jericho, Vt., and airborne school at Fort Benning, Ga.
“It does challenge you physically and mentally,” Mulkey said. “Your workload, getting things done. A lot of PT (physical training).”
The hard work has paid off.
“I gained a lot of leadership,” he said. “I know how to organize myself. I’ve learned how to manage
my workload.” The 9/11 terrorist attacks, which occurred during Mulkey’s senior year at Salem High, played a huge role in his decision to join the service.
“9/11 definitely drove me to want to be in the military and protect my country,” Mulkey said.
President George W. Bush talked about the attacks when he spoke at the commissioning ceremony.
“Many of you were still in high school when terrorists brought death and destruction to our streets on September the 11th, 2001,” Bush told the young soldiers, according to a Department of Defense account of the ceremony. “You were high school students. And yet, some of you understood that the cause of freedom would soon depend on your generation’s willingness to step forward and defend it.”
Mulkey reports to Fort Benning on June 3, where he will attend Infantry Officer Basic Course and ranger school. Following that, he will be stationed in Alaska.
He has a seven-year commitment to the Army.
“He’s a super kid and I think he’ll be a tremendous officer,” said Lt. Col. Michael Carlino of the ROTC program at UNH, who’s known Mulkey for two years.
Mulkey’s mother, Jerilyn, shared the honor with her son’s girlfriend, Army Lt. April Ritter, of pinning
his new rank on his uniform at the White House.
Lt. Ritter, a nurse, completed the ROTC program at UNH last year.
Jerilyn said she’s proud of her son. Thanks to people like him, she said, Americans live free.
“I’m very proud of him and all his accomplishments,” she said. “It’s definitely deserved. He’s worked very hard.”