Army captain gives up his rank to enlist in the Marine Corps
Nicholas Brooklier gave up his position as an Army logistics officer to join the Marines as an infantry grunt.
BY JEFF SCHOGOL | PUBLISHED APR 22, 2024 4:33 PM EDT
A former Army officer has relinquished his captain’s bars to enlist in the Marine Corps.
“I was kind of at a point in my life in the Army where I didn’t feel really fulfilled,” Nicholas Brooklier said in a Marine Corps news story. “So, it was either get out and go to the civilian world, and to be honest, I did not want to do that. I felt like my time in the service wasn’t over. I just felt like I needed a change in my environment.”
Now, Brooklier is scheduled to graduate from Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego on Friday and enter follow-on infantry training.. Ultimately, he told the Marines, he hopes to earn his commission and become a Marine infantry officer.
Brooklier is far from the first soldier to switch to the Marine Corps (and many Marines are known to go Army, as well, including Special Forces Medal of Honor recipient Msgt. Early Plumlee). But the fact that as a commissioned officer, he was willing to start over as an enlisted service member to reboot his military career makes his case rare – but not unheard of. After World War I, British Army Col. T.E. Lawrence ended his military career by serving as an enlisted soldier and airman in the Royal Air Force.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-officer-marines-enlist/
