John M. Nunn

Brigadier General John Nunn was born in September 1950 in East Orange, New Jersey. He came from a family with a military tradition; his father and grandfather also served in the US Army. Nunn’s initial experience with the Army occurred after high school, when he was drafted in November 1969 during the Vietnam War. He attended two months of basic training at Fort Dix. Basic training was intense, but it also provided him with an opportunity to participate in Army intramural sports, which gave him access to many perks not available to the average soldier, including better food and more free time. Nunn recalled that his basic training and Army service created a sense of brotherhood with his fellow soldiers, and that he stays in contact with many Army buddies from those days.

On completion of his basic training, Nunn was assigned to Frankfurt, Germany, rather than to Vietnam, which disappointed him, as he had wanted to serve in Vietnam. While serving in Germany, he was twice put on orders to be transferred to Vietnam, and both times the orders were rescinded. Nunn ended up serving nineteen months in Germany.

Since Nunn served in Germany during the Cold War, while the Russian Army occupied Eastern Europe, training was intense. There were constant drills and alerts, and his unit spent many days in field training, sometimes for months at a time. He was told that if the Russian Army invaded Western Europe, American troops would have about a three-day lifespan. Overall, Germany was not bad, and his wife was able to move there, so they were together for most of his tour of duty.

Following his discharge from active duty, Nunn returned to New Jersey, where he became a Newark police officer. He joined the NJ Army National Guard in 1977. Nunn attended Officer Candidate School in Sea Girt, where he graduated in 1979. He joined the NJ National Guard’s 50th Adjutant General Company in East Orange and was Company Commander from 1980 – 1984. Nunn was with 50th Division Support Command, or DISCOM, until 1987. He recalled that National Guard training intensified under President Ronald Reagan, and he believed this boosted military morale after Vietnam. Some National Guardsmen were activated for Gulf War service under President George H. W. Bush, which surprised Nunn.

Nunn was transferred from his duties in East Orange to Sea Girt, the New Jersey Military Academy, where he served from 1987 – 1991 as its Director of Logistics, while still spending most of his time as a full-time Newark police officer. During the 1990s, he spent most of his time as a National Guard officer performing administrative duties and inspections, such as with 42nd DISCOM, the 250th Forward Support Battalion Executive Officer, then the 50th Personnel Service Battalion Commander until 2000.

After the tragic events of 9/11/2001, Nunn’s life changed dramatically. He was out of New Jersey at the time, but he and some friends drove for twenty-four straight hours to Liberty State Park, to serve however they could. Nunn became involved in the relief effort by shipping essential goods from warehouses to those in need.

After 9/11, the National Guard and John Nunn were preparing for war, which he believed inevitable. By the time 2003 came, he was preparing for deployment to Bosnia to go out on peace missions. Before Nunn and his brigade could deploy, they had Common Task Training, or CTT. This was done to refresh basic training tactics of troops. He was ready to go to Bosnia because he believed it was America’s job to keep peace in the world. 

Nunn was never deployed to Bosnia because in May 2004, he received orders to deploy to Iraq. He was the 42nd DISCOM Executive Officer. His troops trained at Fort Dix for seven months, but Nunn left three months early for Kuwait. He arrived in October 2004 to Kuwait, where he received combat training much different than the American training. In Kuwait, Nunn shipped a lot of equipment to and from Iraq and America. 

When Nunn finally arrived in Iraq, he was mainly in Tikrit. He said most Sunni areas were not very friendly to Americans, so his time there was not pleasant. Receiving packages from home gave Nunn a sense of happiness, especially when he received phone cards and cookies. Television was also a big part of the troops’ lives. It enabled them to stay in contact with the world. They often watched the news and sporting events. Nunn was in Iraq for one year, and during that time, three US soldiers were killed, and one US soldier committed suicide. Nunn did not want to leave Iraq, because he believed the Middle East needed to be stabilized before they left.

Then LTC Nunn, at the time of this interview, later accepted the civilian position of Director of the NJ Youth ChalleNGe Academy at Fort Dix. He was responsible also for the Joint Training and Training Development Center before his eventual promotion to Brigadier General. Brig. Gen. John Nunn believed his defining moments in life came in Iraq, and he felt pride to have been there. He eventually served as Assistant Adjutant General of New Jersey, New Jersey Army National Guard.

Additional Resources:

• Guardlife Magazine – Nunn takes on new ChalleNGes
• Guardlife Magazine – Change of Command 
• Picatinny emphasizes support to New Jersey National Guard brass