Ken Nikolai served in the military and National Guard for over a decade, and works in the Veterans’ Services office at Pierce.  In his time of service, he took part in Desert Storm and the Iraq War.

“I must’ve been deployed a good eleven times.  The first month is always the hardest.”  Nikolai recollected.  “My career was the military.”  Nikolai said that it was initially difficult for his family to adjust to his constant deployments, and much of his contact with family was through video conferences.  

Nikolai also recalled some of the details of his deployment, and his thoughts on them: “Desert Storm was just a big hooplah.  It felt like it was over in days, and I only stayed there for nine months.  I think I preferred the peacekeeping duties.”

Eventually, Nikolai decided that he wanted to return to school.  “Well, I had that GI Bill after 9/11 now, and I didn’t want it to go to waste, and I wanted to do something different.”  He said that the hardest thing about returning to civilian life was “the lack of structure.”  

Nikolai also had difficulties with the culture of some of the schools.  It’s no secret that veterans tend to be treated differently one way or the other due to local politics and attitudes.  Nikolai stated that Pierce was the most veteran-friendly college he’s gone to, possibly due to to its proximity to the Joint Base Lewis-McChord military base.

“There’s a lot of different people who come here from all the different branches, and there’s a camaraderie among us.  A lot of soldiers in the last decade have back to back deployments.  They have earned my respect.”

Currently, Nikolai works as a mechanic, but he is studying to be a medical office assistant and plans to work as one once he retires from being a mechanic.  If all goes well, his last quarter will be in winter.