Mike McNulty, 36, was with Special Operations, deployed to Iraq. His brother, Sean McNulty, is a chief warrant officer 3 with the 82nd Aviation Brigade at Fort Bragg.
“We do not have many details,” Sean McNulty said in a telephone interview Friday night. “We only know it happened sometime between last night (Thursday) and this morning (Friday), Iraq time. The family is making arrangements, and we think those will be completed Sunday afternoon or Monday.”
McNulty spoke in a quiet, composed voice — the voice of a soldier — aware that his seemingly stoic calm might appear unusual to people not used to military life and the fortunes of war.
“It is the job,” he said. “Mike was a career soldier, and he devoted himself to his family when he wasn’t at work.”
The two were part of a close-knit military family. Mike McNulty lived with his wife and four children, ages 10 to 17, in Southern Pines. Sean McNulty and his family live in Vass. They went into uniform together, were eventually stationed at Fort Bragg, and made their homes in Moore County.
“We grew up in Illinois, joined up about the same time,” Sean McNulty said. “Mike was with U.S. Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg. I am in the 82nd. He was a sergeant first class and had been selected for master sergeant. Mike’s been in the Army 12 or 13 years.”
Mike McNulty was a warrior who had faced battle before.
“He was deployed several times,” his brother said. “This last was for a couple of months.”
He had spent the day helping his brother’s family.
