Source: United States Army
The tranquil sound of prayer echoed off the sterile walls of the main hall where rows of bunks were lined up for patients to rest at the aid station.
Leading the Rosary prayer was a former infantryman known affectionately throughout the Iowa National Guard as “Sully”, who along with the chaplain, selflessly brought religious support to those on sick call who were physically unable to attend the actual service due to illness or injury.
Nestled amongst the medical equipment and supplies in the cramped space were a half-dozen Soldiers who were here to support training for the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Iowa Army National Guard (IAARNG) before they deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. They were too ill to attend the Sunday chapel service held earlier that morning at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Fort Polk, Louisiana, in June of 2025
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“Chaplains have to serve a wide variety of faiths,” said Army Maj. Steve DeHaan, Chaplain, Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 734th Regional Support Group (RSG), IAARNG. “Finding someone like Sully, who had a heart for and was willing to lead the Rosary and help others. I think one of the significant things from that, was that it inspired.”
Sgt. 1st Class Michael “Sully” Sullivan, Assistant Operations Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), HHC, 734th RSG, IAARNG, grew up on a 180-acre family farm in Fonda, Iowa, where both cattle and pigs were raised. There were only 22 students in his graduating class in the tiny northwest hamlet. He excelled at golf in high school, culminating in his team making state for the first time in school history.
Sullivan also played football, basketball, and baseball. As a catcher in baseball, he was scouted by colleges. Yet off the field, he began making decisions that would cost him some of those opportunities. During his senior year, he was cited for an open alcohol container violation and faced an ultimatum with his coach. Either ride the bench or quit. Sullivan chose the latter and went to work instead of suiting up for the varsity squad that season. Due to his actions, he also was not allowed to participate in the state golf tournament with the team he had helped get there.
After graduating from high school, he moved away for a few years then moved back to Fonda where he found work as a mechanic at a shop specializing in hydraulics. It was here that Sullivan was introduced to the Iowa Army National Guard.
A chief warrant officer who ran the business invited him along to drill one weekend at the Field Maintenance Shop #10 in Boone, IA. “He took me into the shop and I was like, ‘I work on trucks every day of the week. I don’t want to do it on drill weekend’,” said Sullivan. “Then he took me over to the AASF (Army Aviation Support Facility) and I saw my very first helicopter, and I fell in love, and that’s how I started my career.”
He enlisted near the end of 1989 and went to basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, then advanced individual training (AIT) at Fort Eustis, Virginia, where he trained on CH-47 Chinooks for six months. After completion of initial entry training, he found work as a mechanic at an agricultural machinery dealership. He then received further training and in the early 1990s became one of the first crew chiefs in the state on the newly fielded UH-60 Black Hawk.
By all appearances, Sullivan was on a path of success in both civilian and military life. However, that path diverged around this time. “I started hanging with a pretty rough crowd,” he said. “They were bikers, they liked to party. I got my own Harley and partied pretty hard and got into the bad side of it.”
Sullivan ultimately failed a urine analysis for a controlled substance in the autumn of 1996 and was discharged, which he said devastated him. Methamphetamines were becoming prevalent in his hometown, so he decided on a fresh start and moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where he found employment at a country club golf course.
Sullivan was thriving once again working as a mechanic at the golf course and as the shop manager. He also met his wife Tammy and started a family. He credits being a father on what helped him get clean. Then fate intervened with the attacks on 9/11.
He said he was standing inside a hole working on a sewer line on the golf course when the towers went down. A coworker expressed his desire to re-enlist with the Marine Corps, but health issues prevented it. “It got me thinking,” Sullivan said. “Well, maybe I can get back in. So, I got hooked up with a recruiter.”
It was a several yearlong process, but he was finally sworn back into the military on January 11, 2005. On that day, he committed to himself to never being a bad Soldier ever again. However, due to his past indiscretion he was barred from rejoining aviation. The only option was a 25C-Radio Operator-Maintainer and then later he reclassed as an 11B-Infantryman to gain an Active Guard Reserve (AGR) full-time position in 2008.
He has been AGR ever since which included a deployment in 2010-11 to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, as part of Task Force Red Bulls with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, IAARNG.
Sullivan takes full ownership of his battles with substance abuse. “I took the drug abuse way too far,” he said. “That was all on me. It wasn’t on anybody that I was with. I just got addicted to it. I found out where I can continue to get it and just continue to abuse.”
Sullivan, a lifelong Catholic, credits his faith for helping him stay sober and contributing to him being a better Soldier. He rarely went to church but at the urging of a friend he went to mass at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Des Moines. Sullivan said, “I stepped into St. Anthony and I just started bawling. I found it. I found that happy place and I’ve been at St. Anthony ever since.”
Sullivan has faced other adversities as well. Since childhood he has had a form of shakes or trembling that got progressively worse over time. Doctors at one point thought he had Parkinson’s disease. Finally, after an MRI a neurologist informed him that he had an extremely bad case of tremors. His mother, brother, and son all have the same hereditary condition.
The good news was that it was treatable. The bad news was that the surgery, called Deep Brain Stimulation, was very dangerous and intrusive which in rare cases results in death. “They drill holes in your head”, said Sullivan. “They shove wires down into your brain then they hook it up to a little module, kind of like a pacemaker. It gets activated and then you can control it from a phone”
After consulting with family, Sullivan opted for the two-stage surgery which was undertaken in July and August of 2025. It was a success, albeit with a few side effects like slurred speech or the inability to say certain words. Overall, he was happy he went through the complex surgery saying, “I wish I had done it 20 years ago. Yeah nice. It’s incredible!”
Besides this most recent health turnaround, another significant milestone was fast approaching for Sullivan. After 29 years of military service he will officially retire in March of 2026. Asked what he will miss the most, he said, “The laughter. How a Soldier can get put into some of the [expletive] conditions in the [expletive] place on the face of the earth and they can still find laughter, still find something humorous. I’ll miss that.”
Sullivan also said he would miss being able to interact with all kinds of people from all different kinds of places that do all kinds of different things. He said each one of them has their own special story.
His institutional knowledge will be greatly missed once he hangs up his uniform for the last time in March. It pales in comparison to those interactions Sullivan described with fellow Soldiers. Whether it is offering spiritual guidance to those in need or helping those who may be struggling with substance abuse. Sullivan’s commitment to his brothers and sisters in arms was unwavering and an inspiration to so many who have crossed paths with him.
Sullivan’s inspiration and impact will have a lasting impact on the organization, one that he may not even know the full extent of. Maj. Dehaan reflected on that morning at JRTC right before the Middle East deployment where no Catholic priests or services were available.
“I think one of the significant things from that was it inspired a number of chaplain assistants who were Catholic that were going to deploy”, said DeHaan. “It opened their eyes, ‘Oh, this is something I can do’, to fill the need particularly for Catholic Soldiers that were about to deploy.”
According to DeHaan, several chaplain assistants – stateside and down-range – have emulated Sullivan’s example and started leading the Rosary Prayers in the absence of Catholic priests. “That was an unintended gift”, said DeHaan. “But it was still a gift that he was able to show a number of Soldiers.”
Speaking on Sullivan’s authentic and proactive care for Soldiers, Dehaan explained, “He has that magnetic personality for people who are hurting and in need and he’s there for them. It was his heart from his experiences. He had a heart to help others.”
Sullivan’s journey from struggle to redemption stands as a testament to hard work and unwavering faith. His ability to share some of his darkest moments with humility and vulnerability reflected a hope that others might avoid the same self‑destructive path he had experienced.
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