SGT Nicole LaViolette

SGT Nicole LaViolette sat down with me for Heroes I Know.

Frenchy. Everybody called her that. She was mine at Bliss. 14 Tango.

She signed at eighteen. Delayed entry so her niece could be born. She left at nineteen. Waitress. She had gotten into Baylor and the paperwork did not make it. After 9/11 she walked into a recruiter. Something bigger than herself.

Shy kid. She wanted to be an astronaut. Her mom gave her space books. She still has the one where she saved the articles. Fort Leonard Wood. January. First day off the bus she cried in the front leaning rest. Overwhelmed. Scared. Excited. She did not excel and she did not fail. She loved the obstacle courses. She would go back for that part.

Then Bliss. Hot. AIT first. Then the unit. Welcome to your family. We are here whether you like it or not. Staff Sergeant King put her on his team. Out about two weeks after she got there. Minesweeper. Chemical gear. The safety of the whole unit rested on them doing it right. She did not like the mask. She liked the work.

We went to Korea. First time that far from home. Rice paddies. Real snow. She grew up in California. Texas snow is slush. She wanted formation in it. They cancelled. She still went out in the evenings. She studies Korean now.

She got pregnant with her daughter. Left early. Came home to America alone. He was still in Korea when she gave birth. She was sad to leave that first unit. She came back. Seven years. She made sergeant. The board was in Korea the second time. Camp Casey. Busan. She thought she did terrible. She did well.

Single mom. Daughter barely in diapers. Flash cards on the table. Zoe. Thirteen and a half. Introvert. Intelligent. Ian. Nine. Their names are on her arms. She got out because the family care plan fell apart. Mom and dad. The unit was about to deploy. Kids first. She did not really want to get out. Heartbroken.

She works logistics now. She got her bachelor’s. She would serve again. She misses the closeness. The family. SQUAD ATTENTION. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.