From follower to leader

Raised in a family with a military background, Nick Celeya wanted to continue that tradition. When Celeya graduated high school in May 2007, the Iraq war was in its deadliest year. He felt a calling to serve his country as his father had.

 “Not every generation has the opportunity to be a great generation,” Celeya said. “It was my chance to serve and if I didn’t do it other people wouldn’t either.”

Enlisting in the Army in the fall of 2007 Celeya knew exactly what he wanted to do, infantry.

Less than a year later, Celeya found himself in the dusty streets of Mosul, Iraq. While in Iraq, Celeya’s unit, the 1^st Battalion 23^rd Infantry Regiment, was tasked with security and stability operations. There the unit performed presence and security patrols. The purpose of those patrols was not to actively seek combat engagements, but to disrupt insurgent operations.

 “It was a lot of patrolling the streets and interacting with the locals to find out their needs. We saw a little action, but it was mostly calm,” Celeya said.

Returning stateside in April of 2009, Celeya chose to leave the Army and returned to school.

Upon beginning college, Celeya felt that his “warrior spirit” hadn’t left him. After his first semester he started to look at a path back to the military. With the opportunity to be back in uniform, and with a stipend for tuition, the Army ROTC appealed to him.

 “I had already done the enlisted thing and with the stipend I could sit easy going through school,” Celeya said.

Celeya, now a senior at Utah State University and Army ROTC cadet, is preparing to commission as an officer this summer. Staying with his background, Celeya has chosen infantry as his military occupation.

“If you’re going to do it, you might as well be in the thick of it. I couldn’t sit behind a desk,” Celeya said.

Celeya looks forward to being with an infantry unit again and working with soldiers that he can understand.  He believes that his prior enlisted experience will enable him to relate to his soldiers better than an officer without that background.

“When you know how the smallest private feels, you can relate to your guys that much better,” Celeya said.

Lt. Col. Greg Stuart, the recruiting operations officer of USU Army ROTC, looks for students with prior service when he recruits. “They bring experience to the table,” Stuart said.

Lower enlisted soldiers are not exposed to many of the aspects that go into the planning of missions. Mission planning is done by officers and then passed down to their soldiers in a operation order pertaining to their mission. This usually leaves out the bigger picture that officers see.

“The biggest challenge in going from enlisted to officer is being a planner instead of a doer,” Celeya said. “It’s now my job to sort everything out and bring the word down to my guys.”

Stuart also noted this challenge when a prior service cadet joins the ROTC. “It’s sometimes hard to get the enlisted mentality out of them, but they know their tactics and military life,” he said.


(D.Van Dyke)