Chief Warrant Officer 1 Sean W. Mullen was born on March 13, 1974, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Delaware when he was three. Growing up, Sean loved sports and Boy Scouts and was known for years as “The Organizer” of the neighborhood baseball games. He attended Caesar Rodney High School and Delaware Technical and Community College and joined the Maryland National Guard in 1993.
In November 1995 Sean enlisted in the active Army as an infantryman. He served with the 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, at Camp Casey, Korea. In April 2002 he became an instructor at the Basic Airborne and Pathfinder Courses at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Sean then volunteered for Special Forces and completed the Special Forces Qualification Course in April 2007 as a Special Forces medical sergeant. He was assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he served as a detachment medic, the company’s senior medical sergeant and its operations sergeant. He deployed twice to Iraq and to Saudi Arabia, and his battalion was the first in Army Special Forces Command qualified to conduct unconventional warfare. In November 2012 he graduated from the Warrant Officer Technical and Tactical Certification Course and rejoined Company B as assistant detachment commander of an Operational Detachment Alpha.
Sean deployed with his team to Afghanistan in 2013, his sixth overseas deployment. On June 2, 2013, he died of wounds from an improvised explosive device in Ghur Ghuri, Afghanistan. He was 39 years old. He had earned two Bronze Star Medals during his career and was posthumously awarded a third, along with the Purple Heart. His other decorations include two Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, eight Army Achievement Medals, the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign Medals, the Korea Defense Service Medal, the Special Forces Tab, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Pathfinder Badge, the Air Assault Badge and the Senior Parachutist Badge. He was always humble about them.
In 2005 Sean married the love of his life, Nancy Nelson, in Scobey, Montana. They made their home in Tennessee with their faithful “dog-children,” Patton and Gwennie. Sean loved hunting, collecting antique guns and restoring old Jeeps. As an adult he became an avid reader with a passion for learning to be the best at everything he did, and his Army brothers knew him as a walking encyclopedia, a leader, a mentor and a teacher. As one of his comrades put it: “There are men alive today because of Sean.”
Sean is survived by his wife, Nancy; his parents, William and Miriam Mullen; and his sister, Christina Ellers.
CW1 Sean Mullen deployed six times across Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan during his distinguished 18-year Special Forces career.
5th Special Forces Group (Airborne)
Sources
- Clarksville Online / USASOC release: 5th Special Forces Group Soldier from Fort Campbell killed in action (June 4, 2013)
- NBC10 Philadelphia: Decorated vet dies fighting in Afghanistan (June 4, 2013)
- Green Beret Foundation: Sean W. Mullen
- ARSOF History: Warrant Officer 1 Sean W. Mullen
- Family-provided records on file with MVF: Sean Mullen family bio
