Father commissions won to 2nd lieutenant, 22 years later, father promotes son to colonel

By Curt Swarm

The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Both Ken Madden and his son Sean, of rural Crawfordsville, graduated from the University of Iowa, and both participated in ROTC — Reserve Officer Training Corps. In 2002 Colonel Ken Madden had the honor of commissioning his son Sean, upon graduation from the U of I, to 2nd Lieutenant. Father Ken is on the Alumni Board at the University of Iowa and, occasionally is asked to assist in the commissioning of new officers. In this instance he jumped at the opportunity to do the honors for his son.

22 years later, on Oct. 11, 2024, Retired Colonel Ken Madden promoted Sean to Colonel at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Father Ken couldn’t be more pleased, nor son Sean happier.

But the anomaly doesn’t end there. In 2007, both Ken and Sean were stationed in Iraq, Sean with the Iraqi National Police and Ken with the CIA. It was Thanksgiving Day and Ken had invited Sean to join him for Thanksgiving dinner. They had just sat down when they were bombarded with insurgent mortars. Ken and Sean ran to a bomb shelter, and sat there while their Thanksgiving dinner, with mashed potatoes and gravy, got cold and the dessert warm. Not too many fathers and sons can say they shared a bomb shelter on Thanksgiving Day, and had so much to be thankful for.

Actually, Sean Madden is writing the latest chapter in a long family legacy. It started back before the United States was even a country. Both sides of the Madden family, maternal

and paternal, fought with George Washington in the Battle of Manhattan and Long Island, New York.

Both sides of the Madden family fought in the Civil War, World War I and II, and the Vietnam War. Sean’s Uncle Bob, on his mother’s side, did two tours in Vietnam, and conducted the ceremony where Sean’s dad, Ken, promoted Sean to Colonel. It’s a family affair.

Sean’s military career started with his family’s guacamole. Yep. Following graduation from college, and as a new 2nd Lieutenant, Sean was in Air Defense Artillery School. The battalion commander invited the new Lieutenants to a “Meet and Greet.” Sean thought he should take something. So he went to the commissary, bought the ingredients, and made his family’s world-famous guacamole. (He was the only 2nd Lieutenant who brought anything.) The battalion commander’s wife loved it. Sean happened to mention to her that he would like to volunteer for duty in Iraq. Boom. Within a month of graduating from Officer Basics School, Sean was in Qatar.

In his 22 years as an Army officer, Sean has been deployed four times. He was told by a General that the way to make rank in the Army is to seek assignments that are challenging. When they are offered, volunteer. He has done this and his military career has been meteoric. Sean is at the Army War College now, and following his promotion to Colonel, by his father, he should be back at the Pentagon, fulfilling the current chapter of a long family legacy.

Each generation has gone to war, Sean Madden’s generation is no exception.

Contact Curt Swarm at curtswarm@yahoo.com.