This Veterans Day, Council 4 is honoring two members who served in the United States Armed Forces. Whether it is service in the Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard, Council 4 thanks all veterans for the sacrifices they have made to protect our freedoms. 

Robert Cauley

Robert Cauley is a member of AFSCME Local 714. For 13 years he has been with the Dept. of Social Services (DSS) and currently works as a Services Supervisor in Windsor. In 2001 he joined the Connecticut Army National Guard right out of high school. During his 9 years in the military, he was deployed to Iraq for a year as a sergeant with the 1st and 109th artillery unit out of PA. 

“My experience was eye-opening and a gift and curse at the same time,” said Cauley. “It gives you an opportunity to appreciate life and waking up every day. You don’t know when it can be taken from you at any moment.”

Cauley believes his military background influenced who he is today, especially how he approaches his work with DSS as a supervisor. 

“It’s shaped different integrities and my morals and how I operate on a daily basis,” Cauley said. “As much as I delegate [as a supervisor], I think a lot of times workers like to see a supervisor that is hands-on. They like to see that I will match my words with action.”

Although our country recognizes the sacrifices of veterans on holidays such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day, Cauley believes we all can expand our learning about veterans and what they go through. 

“Everyone's experience is different,” Cauley said. “Even though you sign up to volunteer,…at the end of the day you're putting your life on the line. When you're in any situation of deployment, you don't know what's going to go on from day to day. Every day is a new experience.”

Robert Cauley, circa approx 2002 in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina

Acts of service is another way that Cauley sees how everyone can play a part to show appreciation and support for our veteran population. 

“Just the little things go a long way,” Cauley said. “Gift boxes, letters from children - the appreciation aspect of it is big because not a lot of people are not willing or capable of joining the armed services.” 

In relating his membership in the Armed Forces with his membership in our union, Cauley recognizes a disconnect, specifically in how members engage in their military service compared to in their union. 

“I think that there's certain people that don't appreciate what the union does or take it for granted,” Cauley explained. “When you put on that uniform, you don't take anything for granted. You don't take the next day for granted. A lot of times union members just sit back…and want someone else to do the fighting for them, instead of really getting into action and saying, ‘What can I do to help move this forward?’ Or, ‘How can I be involved?’”

Mark Mennillo

Mark Mennillo is the Chief Steward and a Trustee of AFSCME Local 387. He is coming up on 18 years of service as a Correctional Officer with the Department of Corrections (DOC) at Cheshire Correctional Institute. Prior to this tenure, Mennillo served 7 years in the US Marine Corps with Local 387 President Jeremie St. Pierre, with whom Mennillo was deployed to Iraq in 2005, where he rose to the rank of Sergeant. Mennillo joined the DOC with St. Pierre when they both retired from the Marine Corps.

“Serving in the Marine Corps taught me respect and gratitude. It’s a very different life overseas that we are not accustomed to here,” said Mennillo. “Until you witness being overseas first hand, you definitely don’t know how good we have it here. I am grateful for all the amenities, freedoms, and luxuries that we have here in the first world, which people forget how easy it is.”

One aspect of military service Mennillo hopes more people could understand is the level of sacrifice required. “The time spent away from family, away from home,” said Mennillo. “I don’t think people quite comprehend the toll that takes on us.”

Mennillo’s journey followed the footsteps of his uncle, Robert Boland, who joined the Marine Corps after 9/11, and later also became a Local 387 leader as a former Correctional Officer at Manson Youth Institute. Boland laid the organizational foundations of Local 387 with fellow Correctional Officers Steve Carbone and the late Bob Parziale, who were respectively President and Treasurer of Local 387 before becoming Service Representatives at Council 4.

“Once you learn and instill in yourself the leadership and values of the Marine Corps, you bring those to any endeavor in life,” Mennillo explained on how his military service connects to his union leadership. “Whether in the facilities or in the union, to help others and to keep fighting for what we have, which the members and leaders before have laid the path for and given us.”

Mark Menillo, a Correctional Officer and Chief Steward of Local 387, served in the Marine Corps for 7 years.

Recalling how his time in the Marine Corps prepared him for state service, Mennillo added, “Our military training helps a lot – being conscientious of our surroundings, being disciplined – the boot camp breaks all your bad habits and builds you up as a team. So in the correctional facilities, when bad things happen and codes are called, we know there’s no time to think about yourself – not I, but we, how we all get out safely.”