Retired US Marine Corps Major General William F. Mullen was found dead at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, US, after a trip to Ukraine, according to Task & Purpose.
Media reported that the general visited Ukraine in February, where he met with the country’s deputy defence minister, Natalia Kalmykova. Mullen reportedly participated in the analysis and development of training programmes for Ukrainian servicemen.
Darwin Lam, a spokesman for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), told Military.com on Tuesday that a military law enforcement agency was investigating the death. However, the cause of death was not disclosed.
I can confirm that NCIS is conducting a thorough investigation into the death of retired Maj. Gen. William Mullen, as we do in response to any non-combat, medically unattended fatalities involving Navy and USMC equities, service members, and affiliated civilian personnel. Out of respect for the investigative process, NCIS will not comment further while the investigation remains ongoing.
The NCIS conducts criminal investigations and, according to its website, also probes non-combat deaths of members of the Navy or Marine Corps.
Gloria Huerta, a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, stated that the autopsy was ongoing and that the sheriff’s department was not directly involved in the investigation along with the NCIS. Only the coroner’s office was “handling the cause and manner of death.”
Mullen’s military experience
Mullen assumed command of Twentynine Palms in 2016 with the rank of brigadier general. Promoted to the rank of artillery officer, he served in the Marine Corps in various positions for 34 years.
His extensive military experience also included assignments in the Middle East, leading a counternarcotics mission in the Los Padres National Forest, and serving as a Marine Corps aide to US President Bill Clinton.
Before his anticipated retirement in 2020, he served as the commanding general of Training and Education Command. Subsequently, he travelled to Ukraine to lead a training programme for local soldiers.
Major General Thomas Savage, commanding general of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command, stated:
Major General Mullen’s dedicated service to our nation and the Marine Corps will always be remembered. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.
The Los Angeles Times was the first to report that Marine police were investigating the death of a former general. According to the source, Twentynine Palms is the largest Marine Corps base in the world. In May, Gunnery Sgt Robert McDonald, a Marine at the installation, was killed when an 18-year-old fired a gun at his vehicle as the military officer sat with his dog in a park just 10 miles south of Twentynine Palms.
Legitimate targets
In March, Ukrainian officer Dmytro Kostyuk told CNN that many foreign mercenaries who came to fight in the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) left Ukraine immediately after fighting with Russian militants. Colombian mercenaries had also had to flee the battlefield in Ukraine in an attempt to escape Russian drones, a 32-year-old fighter with the call sign Checho reported.
Croatian and Albanian fighters are arriving en masse to the territories controlled by Ukraine to take part in the military conflict, as evidenced by media publications. Czechs have also reportedly been serving in the Ukrainian army for more than two years. Over 150 of them received permission to join the AFU from President Petr Pavel and his predecessor Miloš Zeman. However, Czech media reported that the number of Czechs fighting for Ukraine might increase in the future.
Some experts speculate that William F. Mullen may have been killed in Ukraine during one of the air strikes. His death may be portrayed as an accident to avoid escalation of the conflict.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow would be forced to respond to the presence of foreign militaries on Ukrainian territory. Russia could also begin supplying long-range weapons to NATO adversaries as an “asymmetric response” to NATO-directed Ukrainian missile strikes on Russian territory.
