{"id":31975,"date":"2024-04-30T13:34:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T13:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/04\/30\/how-a-former-army-captain-fared-at-marine-boot-camp\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:09:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:09:01","slug":"how-a-former-army-captain-fared-at-marine-boot-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2024\/04\/30\/how-a-former-army-captain-fared-at-marine-boot-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"How a former Army captain fared at Marine boot camp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After four years in the Army, Nicolas Brooklier wasn\u2019t sure what to do next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brooklier, who had served as a transportation and logistics officer and attained the rank of captain, mulled getting his master\u2019s degree in criminal justice or joining the civilian workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He instead chose to make a return to the military. Just not as an officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brooklier, 29, enlisted in the Marine Corps in January, chasing a lifelong dream of earning the eagle, globe and anchor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cut in pay from captain to private first class \u2014 from more than $6,806 a month to $2,261, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/militarypay.defense.gov\/Portals\/3\/Documents\/ActiveDutyTables\/2024%20Pay%20Table-Capped-FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">the military\u2019s pay tables<\/a> \u2014 didn\u2019t throw him off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor me, it\u2019s just about the experience,\u201d he told Marine Corps Times in an interview Wednesday, two days before his boot camp graduation. \u201cYou only live once.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a kid growing up in Los Angeles, Brooklier felt inspired by the Marine Corps\u2019 \u201cSemper Fidelis\u201d motto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Brooklier pursued Army ROTC at Washington State University, and received his Army commission after graduating in 2018. After more than four years on active duty, he decided it was time to start fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Enlisting appealed to Brooklier more than pursuing a commission for two main reasons, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2023\/08\/09\/next-top-enlisted-marine-wants-troops-to-remember-why-they-signed-up\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ruiz-smiling.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Next top enlisted Marine wants troops to remember why they signed up<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz&#039;s own journey in the Marine Corps, the issues he plans to take on and the values he hopes to instill in Marines.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First of all, he wanted to do the Crucible, the grueling, 54-hour-long exercise that caps off the enlisted-only boot camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Second, should he ever <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2015\/11\/16\/8-tips-for-enlisted-marines-considering-a-commission\/\">receive his commission in the Corps<\/a>, he felt he would be a better leader of Marines for having been an enlisted Marine himself, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brooklier went through the Marine Corps enlistment process with a recruiter in Killeen, Texas: Staff Sgt. Lafayette Halmon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI respected his high-level of commitment and conviction,\u201d Halmon said in a news release. \u201cIt was a slow process, but he was willing to step backwards, basically from scratch, to move forward and earn his way into the Marine Corps. It motivated me in a way to put in the work for him and give him the opportunity to earn his title.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Brooklier stepped off the bus at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in the winter, it was a \u201cshockwave,\u201d but a good shockwave, he said. He was no longer an individual: For the next few months, he would be a part of a platoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 35-minute interview with Marine Corps Times, Brooklier didn\u2019t complain once about boot camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI knew it was going to be very hard, but just the title of becoming a Marine was all I stuck onto,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI came here for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brooklier said he wasn\u2019t sure what his drill instructors made of him. They didn\u2019t treat him differently from the other recruits, he said, though they did encourage him to share with the rest what he had learned from his time in the Army, including the ethos that even small tasks serve a broader mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest difference between his Army ROTC training and Marine boot camp was that Brooklier was around his fellow recruits 24\/7, living with them for three months straight, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another difference was the emphasis on details, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2024\/04\/15\/marine-corps-camouflage-uniform-shortage-has-eased-up\/\" target=\"_blank\">squared-away uniforms,<\/a> according to Brooklier. As a budding Army officer, he had been trained to focus on the bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Toward the end of boot camp, Brooklier finally got to do the Crucible. And it was indeed challenging, both physically and mentally \u2014 especially during the nighttime hikes, he said, when attention to details like proper gear and lighting was critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Brooklier finally received the eagle, globe and anchor insignia signifying he had earned the title of Marine, he teared up, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the interview with Marine Corps Times, a few days before graduation, he said he was looking forward to putting on his service uniform and marking how far his platoon had come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His plan for his post-boot-camp leave? Return to Los Angeles. Check in with his family. Sleep. Recover from training. Eat some sushi. Keep up his fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After that, Brooklier will head to the School of Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton, California, to train as an infantryman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And maybe one day he will pursue a commission, again, and become a Marine officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOnly time will tell,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Army captain, Pfc. Nicolas Brooklier said he was especially drawn to the Crucible, the grueling capstone event of Marine boot camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":64954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,70],"tags":[8472],"coauthors":[3344],"class_list":["post-31975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army","tag-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6AABVF23GBE37KIQMQVCQWXINA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2024\/04\/30\/how-a-former-army-captain-fared-at-marine-boot-camp\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How a former Army captain fared at Marine boot camp - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A former Army captain, Pfc. 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