The top military officer in the United States is planning to speak at the upcoming deployment ceremony for about 200 Vermont National Guard soldiers headed to Afghanistan.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen will speak Friday in Vermont.
Defense Department spokeswoman Jennifer Harrington tells the Burlington Free Press the decision by Mullen to speak to the Vermont soldiers reflects the heightened importance of the soldiers’ yearlong mission in Afghanistan.
Richard Schneider, the president of the military college Norwich University, says that short of the president of the United States attending the ceremony, Mullen’s visit is the highest honor the troops can get.