Steven Mullins characterizes the story of his life as “the American story.” He is an American, first and foremost, he tells me. He feels deeply tied to his nation and to its history. Mullins expresses great pride in his country (if he had to rank all the countries in the world, he says, the United States would be at, or at least very near to, the top of his list) and he articulates a ready willingness to sacrifice for it. “I’m proud to be an American,” Mullins tells me, “[which] means that I understand why my ancestors came here.” He elaborates:

As Mullins recalls his life, and as he recounts to me what he has learned about the lives of his ancestors, he gestures toward the barn that stands on the farm where he grew up, and where he now lives. His mother was raised on this same farm. His maternal great-great grandfather, one of the first settlers of what, in 1837, would become the village of New Albany, Ohio, purchased the land for the farm in 1828. “[O]n this farm,” Mullins says, “is a beautiful barn, with a thirty-five star [Union] battle flag painted on [it].” “So, I grew up,” he tells me, “under the flag.”