(The following story by Ledyard King appeared on the New Brunswick Home News Tribune website on January 21. Brother S.E. Mitchell is a member of BLET Division 373 in Trenton, N.J.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Scott Mitchell’s first trip to the nation’s capital included something few Washingtonians ever experience: a ringside seat to the president’s State of the Union address.
The Naval reservist from Old Bridge, and his wife, Barbara, were invited by their congressman, Rep. Rush Holt, D-12th Dist., to attend the speech last night in the ornate House chamber of the U.S. Capitol.
Holt, who usually tries to invite a constituent for the annual address, wanted to bring a reservist from his district. His staff found Mitchell, who served in Kuwait from January to May, helping to prepare for the Iraq invasion by maintaining ammunition supplies for Navy aircraft.
“When I heard what it was for, we jumped right on it. It was the chance of a lifetime,” said Mitchell, 40, prior to the president’s address as he and his wife sat in Holt’s office with the congressman. “We’ve watched (the speeches) before but nothing like this.”
Mitchell was especially pleased to be present for the speech because he’s a Republican and a supporter of Bush.
Mitchell’s Reserve unit is stationed at the Navy Weapons Station Earle in Monmouth County. He returned from his overseas duty in time for the birth of his son, the couple’s fourth child, and has resumed his civilian job as a New Jersey Transit locomotive engineer.
Holt had wanted a reservist in part to highlight the disruption he says they, their families and their employers, face because of lengthy deployments overseas. The three-term Democrat backs legislation that would expand the size of the armed forces so that fewer reservists and National Guard soldiers have to be activated.
“We are relying probably too much on the reserves,” Holt said, “and the only way you could share the load and still do all the things that our military is doing overseas is by having more regular troops.”