2008 Woodie Awards
Pacific Personality: Nicolle Brossard
Sami Richards
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: A&E
Oregon native and Spring 2008 transfer student, Nicolle Brossard, found fate and family lineage urging her to join the army reserve in February of 2001.
Brossard is the fourth generation of her family to enlist in the army, but this was not the only reason she decided to join before going to school.
While in high school, her mother was fighting brain cancer and medical bills were draining the family funds. She looked at Northwestern University in Washington but Brossard knew it would be too expensive.
The next day two recruiters were at her school. She thought that this must have been more than just a coincidence and went over to talk with them. Because of her interests in psychology and the college benefits she decided to sign up.
After graduating from high school, her 10-week basic training began in San Antonio, Texas. Brossard completed mental health specialist training and took courses at the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences.
"It's like a college on the military base," she said.
Once basic training was complete, she was able to come back to Oregon and took summer courses at Portland State University.
In January of 2003 Brossard was mobilized for the war in Iraq. Some of the reactions toward Brossard from her fellow PSU classmates made her feel attacked.
"They didn't understand that members of the services didn't have to go along and agree with everything the government was saying and doing at that time," she said, making it clear that she enlisted before Sept. 11, 2001.
While mobilized, Brossard waited for five months to hear what her assignment was. Coincidentally, she was stationed in the same barracks as her father when he was in the army.
She thinks the reason for her long wait in Washington is the compromise of the original war mission. What she understood as being the original war plan was that a third of the troops were to be sent to Turkey to move south and another third to Kuwait to move north. Because Turkey had pressure from Russia and France to not let U.S. soldiers in, the plan did not work and Brossard waited.
Brossard is the fourth generation of her family to enlist in the army, but this was not the only reason she decided to join before going to school.
While in high school, her mother was fighting brain cancer and medical bills were draining the family funds. She looked at Northwestern University in Washington but Brossard knew it would be too expensive.
The next day two recruiters were at her school. She thought that this must have been more than just a coincidence and went over to talk with them. Because of her interests in psychology and the college benefits she decided to sign up.
After graduating from high school, her 10-week basic training began in San Antonio, Texas. Brossard completed mental health specialist training and took courses at the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences.
"It's like a college on the military base," she said.
Once basic training was complete, she was able to come back to Oregon and took summer courses at Portland State University.
In January of 2003 Brossard was mobilized for the war in Iraq. Some of the reactions toward Brossard from her fellow PSU classmates made her feel attacked.
"They didn't understand that members of the services didn't have to go along and agree with everything the government was saying and doing at that time," she said, making it clear that she enlisted before Sept. 11, 2001.
While mobilized, Brossard waited for five months to hear what her assignment was. Coincidentally, she was stationed in the same barracks as her father when he was in the army.
She thinks the reason for her long wait in Washington is the compromise of the original war mission. What she understood as being the original war plan was that a third of the troops were to be sent to Turkey to move south and another third to Kuwait to move north. Because Turkey had pressure from Russia and France to not let U.S. soldiers in, the plan did not work and Brossard waited.
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