Nickolas Lewis was born in October 1983, and grew up in Long Beach, Baton Rouge, San Diego, and Los Angeles with two younger brothers. His stepfather was in the Navy, and his mother worked in medical billing. Being raised near the ocean, he wanted to become a marine biologist. In high school, he was not the best student, but found his niche in athletics, notably basketball and track. He was working as a Blockbuster manager “when life happened” and he got his girlfriend pregnant. He needed to make a change quickly, and considered the Border Patrol, but the Army seemed to offer a better option faster. Initially, he signed up as a 19K, but after working with his second recruiter, he entered the Army as an 88M and N. He conducted his training at Ft. Sill, Ft. Leonard Wood, and Ft. Eustice, and recalls several instances from basic, including getting fired as a squad leader and being put in charge of the latrine. He also remembers attending church during basic training and thinking “you can be normal.” He enjoyed combatives training, pugil sticks and the bayonet assault course, and he realized he felt a sense of belonging in the Army. As a young Soldier, he deployed three times, first to Uzbekistan in 2003, and twice to Balad, Iraq, in 2006 and 2008, rising from E4 to E5 during that period. His deployment to Uzbekistan changed him the most because of an admonishment he received from MSG Gonzales, who called him out for trying to avoid work and not helping the other Soldiers before adding, “You could be great.” That discussion was transformative and Nick began to work on improving his character. His deployments to Iraq were more kinetic and he describes an EFP (Explosively Formed Penetrator) attack on a convoy that seriously injured one of his Soldiers. He reflects on volunteering for “Patriot Detail” while deployed, where he served as an escort for wounded Soldiers boarding flights for medical treatment out of theater. He volunteered for as many Patriot Details as possible out of respect and admiration, and a little out of survivor’s guilt. There were plenty of volunteers for that mission. Back in the United States in 2009, he conducted multi-service JLOTS (Joint Logistics Over The Shore) operations in which improvised docks were built between two Army ships. In 2010, following the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti, as part of the 164th Cargo Detachment’s aerial departure and control group (ADACG), he shipped more than 86 tons of cargo to Haiti. During this period, he began considering OCS and submitted a packet. He was selected, and was commissioned in June 2010. He describes peer reviews during OCS, with every week someone getting cut from the class. He commissioned into the Transportation Corps and was assigned to the 6th Engineer Battalion (Airborne) in Alaska, where he encountered difficulties integrating with his peers and conducting cold weather training. In Alaska he became a senior jumpmaster and was one of five pathfinder qualified personnel in the battalion. After the Combined Logistics Captain Career Course, he was assigned to 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Ft. Irwin, California, and initially served as the Regimental Support Squadron S4 before taking command of 2HET (Heavy Equipment Transport). He describes both the successes and challenges of company command, including the expansion of 2HET (or 2TC), creating a “championship culture” within the company, and having Soldiers under his command die. Next, he took command of HHD (Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment) 840th Transportation Battalion in Ash Shuiabah, Kuwait, where he was in charge of a terminal unit and a port company. Returning from Kuwait, he served as the G4 OIC for the JAG School at the University of Virginia, where he learned to slow down and work with civilian counterparts. He enjoyed the family time in Charlottesville as well as the broadening experience. While there, he earned a master’s degree in Executive Leadership from Liberty University, and later he earned a master’s degree in Social and Organizational Psychology from Columbia University prior to reporting to West Point as a Tactical Officer for H4. After serving as a Tac in USCC, he was assigned to the United States Military Academy Preparatory School (USMAPS), where he served as A Company Tac. He appreciated the influence he had on the lives of future leaders of the Army, but he wished he had more unstructured time with Cadets. He found that being a leader at the prep school was “everything I wanted,” and he coached powerlifting as well as teaching military and character development. After retiring from the Army, he accepted a position teaching JROTC in Oklahoma and looks forward to teaching “life skills” to young people while serving as a positive role model. Reflecting on his service, he notes, “the Army saved my life,” but that everything comes at a cost. Success and pain are two sides of the same coin, and he considers the sacrifice of his service and the time away from his children. He feels that USMAPS represents opportunity and reminds his Cadet Candidates it is “not where you want to be, but the place you want to be from.”
