Daily Sitka Sentinel

Army Guard Recruiter Serves on Homefront

By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
    For the past 20 years Justin Mullenix has trudged some seriously hard miles on deployment patrols with the U.S. Army in Panama, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Afghanistan.
    “I was a combat engineer for my military career,” he said. “My job was basically explosives. Dealing with land mines, booby traps, antipersonnel devices, explosive ordnance disposals, improvised explosive devices – anything that needed to explode or could explode – they typically called us up and we would go take a look at it to see what was going on.”
    On Monday, Sgt. First Class Mullenix, still in uniform, was back on the streets he grew up on, recruiting leaflets in his hand instead of a weapon, as Recruiting and Retention NCO for the Alaska Army National Guard.
    “This is a lot more relaxed,” he said. “Walking these streets brings back some really good memories.”

Alaska Army National Guard recruitment and retention NCO, Sergeant First Class Justin Mullenix has returned to his self-described home of Sitka, fulfilling his dream to serve his community while being stationed at the soon-to-be reopened Armory. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)

    Mullenix was born in Petersburg in 1973, but grew up in Sitka, attending Baranof Elementary, Blatchley Middle School and his freshman year at Sitka High School. He finished high school in Arizona but came back each summer to visit family and work construction with his stepfather Larry McCrehin.
    “I went from tying my shoes through to my freshman year here,” he said.
    The AKARNG is reopening the old Sitka Armory near Allen Marine on Sawmill Creek Road as part of its Rural Engagement Initiative. Mullenix, now stationed there fulltime, has even bought his grandparents’ old house off of Marine Street.
    “That’s the house I would go by and get a snack before I went to deliver newspapers,” he said.
    Mullenix’ roots go back to his grandfather, former Sitka police chief Paul Mullenix. As a young boy Mullenix would hurry over to his grandmother’s house after school for a snack before rushing to the Sitka Sentinel office for a stack of papers to sell at the old post office.
    “I can still smell the fresh ink,” he said.
    As nice as the memories of peddling papers in his youth are, the deployment memories are just as important, as was his decision to join the active duty military (Army) right out of high school, to be assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, the 1st Cavalry Division, go to college, join the Arizona Army National Guard and now the Alaska Army National Guard.
    “I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he said. “It made me who I am today. I am very proud of what I have done and being able to serve. I am glad to be able to be back and doing it in my hometown. That’s every soldier’s dream, to go back home and serve your community. I understand what it means to live in rural Alaska given its challenges, and so does the Alaska Army National Guard. That’s why we are partnering with agencies, developing relationships with local partners in the rural areas, and I believe it’s a major reason why I have been transferred back home. I believe it’s to reinvigorate the Alaska Army National Guard in Sitka.”
    The AKARNG is partnering with local agencies, including the fire and police departments, the hospitals, Native organizations and local schools to help develop local youths into leaders.
    “This is very important to us to make sure we’re meeting the needs of the community,” he said. “We haven’t been an active participant here, with an up-and-running armory, for some time. So we are re-initiating those relationships.”
    The AKARNG will be starting up the Alaska Army National Guard Explorer Program in January.
    “We’re asking those with the propensity to serve our country and great state of Alaska to step up and answer the call,” Mullenix said.
    He said the after-school program will help students learn the core values of the Alaska Army National Guard and gain leadership experience, learn life skills, explore career opportunities and learn to lead with dignity and respect.
    “It will give us a forum to develop our youth in rural areas as upcoming leaders in our communities,” he said. “The experience our youth will gain in the program will help them if they are going to college, entering the work force, entering military service or returning to our rural communities as productive members of society. I look forward to helping our youth develop and grow as our next generation of leaders.”
    Those interested in finding out more about the Explorer Program or enlisting can contact Mullenix at 907-290-4306, at Instagram and Facebook under SitkaRecruiter, or email justin.mullenix2.mil@mail.mil.
    “We’re looking for those able- bodied individuals that might have the aptitude and willingness to join the Alaska Army National Guard,” he said.
    Mullenix makes no bones about why he joined.
    “I needed college money, to be honest,” he said. “My parents were educators, they believed in a good education, and I knew I needed college money. And me, as a kid, I just had no idea what I wanted to do. After I joined I discovered it was something I could really like, I mean, how many jobs when you are walking around do people thank you for your service.”
    The AKARNG commitment is one weekend a month and two weeks out of each year for a first enlistment of three to six years.
    “So 39 days of service per year is what we are asking of these students,” he said. “To be able to join, be part of the job, and get all the college benefits.”
    Mullenix said the AKARNG is unique in that it serves a dual mission: a federal mission to the President of the United States, and a state mission to protect and defend its citizens.
    “To be able to do that parttime, to have that mission, and the guard paying for 100-percent of your college in-state, that’s a pretty significant amount of money,” he said.
    It has also allowed Mullenix to take a stroll along a familiar route.
    A route he would hurry along a few decades ago and shout out, “Sentinel! Get your Sentinel here!”
    “This is so enjoyable,” he said as seagulls screeched from the harbor. “I’m back home. I’m literally sitting in my old house.”