A Father and Son's Military Journey
by U.S. Army 1st Lt. Katherine Sibilla
November 14, 2023 This Veterans Day, Ken McNulty gets a well-deserved day off ... alongside his son, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sean McNulty. 
November 3, 2023 - Ken McNulty (left), a former U.S. Army sergeant major, now a Department of the Army civilian with the 207th Military Intelligence Brigade (Theater) the deployment readiness team stands with his son Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sean McNulty, an intelligence analyst in Vicenza, Italy. (Image created by USA Patriotism! from U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Katherine Sibilla.)
|
Ken McNulty, a former U.S. Army sergeant major, is now a civilian with the 207th Military Intelligence Brigade Theater's deployment readiness team, right where his son serves as an intelligence analyst.
In uniform, sharing the same duty station with a parent is rare, let alone working together in the same unit. For Sean McNulty, orders to relocate to Italy came with the surprise of going to the same unit where his father works.
“The stars aligned,” Sean McNulty said. “I wasn't expecting it.”
His father was just as surprised.
“How that happened, I don't know," Ken McNulty said. "How many All-Source Intelligence Technicians that are airborne qualified are out there? The odds are incredible."
The elder McNulty is intimately familiar with odds, having been an intelligence professional since 1979 ...both as a service member and a civilian. His military journey spanned over 23 years, marked by service in unique units, to include the Special Operations Support Element and 1st Special Forces Detachment Delta. He earned a Bronze Star for his role in Operation Gothic Serpent, the U.S. military operation in Mogadishu, Somalia. He previously served in Vicenza, where Sean was born.
His son grew up on military bases in Germany and North Carolina and later followed in his father's footsteps, He followed his own path, though.
"There are some things he did that I didn't do," Sean McNulty said. “And, I'm probably not going to do certain units.”
They both know this time in their lives is special. They work together and get to create family experiences, like when Sean was on duty at Halloween and his father when trick-or-treating with his wife, Milena, and his granddaughter in nearby Camisano.
After 44 years of military and civilian service, this veteran has earned the opportunity to spend Veterans Day near family in Italy. Our Valiant Troops | I Am The One | Veterans | Citizens Like Us U.S. Army Gifts | U.S. Army | Army National Guard | U.S. Department of Defense | |
