Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

CJCS Admiral Mike Mullin giving me crap about this year's Nebraska football team...

On the 18th of January, the Embassy had a DV (distiguished visitor) come down to visit El Salvador to thank the Salvadorans for their participation in Iraq. With a visitor of this status, the visit is classified SECRET until he arrived in country. Of course at the embassy, all the MIL GROUP and DAO (Defense Attache Office) had known for a while about the visit, but couldn't discuss it with anyone. Most all the Embassy personnel knew something was up, due to their bosses hinting and watching the military absolutely freaking out all week! When the three UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters landed on our soccer field, the people really started to wonder!

Although the DAO was in charge of the visit for a change, it still was quite a stressful event for us in the MIL GROUP. As a military person, it is a very, very rare honor to get to meet and chat with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Wow...This is one of tose reasons that this job has been an experience of a lifetime for me.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Admiral Mullen was sworn in as the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, 2007. He serves as the principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

A native of Los Angeles, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968.

He commanded three ships: the gasoline tanker USS Noxubee (AOG 56), the guided missile destroyer USS Goldsborough (DDG 20), and the guided missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG 48).
As a Flag Officer, Admiral Mullen commanded Cruiser-Destroyer Group 2, the George Washington Battle Group, and the U.S. 2nd Fleet/NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic.
Ashore he has served in leadership positions at the Naval Academy, in the Navy's Bureau of Personnel, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Navy Staff. He was the 32nd Vice Chief of Naval Operations from August 2003 to October 2004.

His last operational assignment was as Commander, NATO Joint Force Command Naples/Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe.

Admiral Mullen is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School and earned a Master of Science degree in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Prior to becoming Chairman, Admiral Mullen served as the 28th Chief of Naval Operations.

Christmas in the Midwest

Chris and I returned to Lincoln for the Christmas holiday. It was a whirl wind of events, but very good to be home and see the girls. The temps were in the low 10 & 20s, but no new snow during our visit. We hear that it has been a heck of a winter in Nebraska and that we should be thankful to be in a warmer climate. Just in case anyone was wondering, we are, thankful that is...

Due to his limited vacation days, Chris was not able to return in time to celebrate with my families. My dad and step mom, Curt and Jill, were in Lincoln for a couple days. We were able to get our Indian "Oven" fix and celebrate with Keenan (with 4 adoring sets of grandparents he is definitely not in want of anything). And I must say it breaks my heart to hear him say, “LaLa I’m so glad you came back”. He thinks I’m living in the wild, which I’m sure grandma Marcia had something to do with :). He asked me, “you are living in the wild, but you do not take any pictures of the wild?. He has requested a picture of a giraffe…

The next night we had the Yost festivities, complete with Santa Claus, Moscow mules and a highly energized game of bunco. It’s a competitive group of 14 former high school and collegiate athletes, the little ones usually come down and tell us we are being too loud. I believe Justin or Stephanie outplayed the rest of the field, or maybe they were just the loudest, hard to say.

Those of you who know Chris, know that he loves to go caroling. He kept suggesting that we get a group of our friends down here together to go out. Thru quiet protest I managed to keep the El Sal caroling extravaganza at bay. Once back in Lincoln our good friends, Christa and Kevin Pope, had a big caroling party in Chris’s honor. It was a great time to catch up and tell some stories of our adventures. There were kids hanging from the rafters while the parents enjoyed each others company. The kids began entertaining themselves by lowering paper on a string from the 2nd floor landing down to the first floor. When the first piece of turkey descended we knew that we had pushed the limits of laise faire parenting and the troops headed home.

It was great to be able to attend Christmas Eve Candlelight service at Westminister in Lincoln. Chris is usually working over the holidays and rarely gets to participate in the beautiful service. Chris picked Summers and Mae up first thing Christmas morning and we headed southbound on I29. We arrived to a full house at Chris's parents house in Kansas City. Don and Judy hosted us for two days before heading back to Lincoln for a few more days. It was wonderful to catch up with our friends and hug our loved ones for one short week. We hope to have some visitors down in El Salvador over the next few months, it is sure to be a warm escape..