PURSUiNG MEdicAl cAREERS AFtER SERviNG thEiR cOUNtRy

Seth Mercurio didn’t always want to be a nurse,but seeing the many faces of death duringOperation Iraqi Freedom changed his career goal.“I wanted to help people after that,” said Mercurio,a 2012 graduate from the Master of Science-FamilyNurse Practitioner program in the College ofGraduate Nursing at Western University of HealthSciences.Currently a part-time neonatal intensive care unit(NICU) nurse at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital,Mercurio said he’s probably the only formerMarine Corpsrifleman who hasturned into aNICU nurse.Mercurio joinedthe Marine CorpsReserves in 1999while attendingAzusa PacificUniversity (APU)because hethought hiscollege life was“mundane.”After completing his tour, hereturned to APU and got hisbachelor’s degree in biblical studies,but knew that the war had changed him.The value of life intensified for him, and hewanted to make a difference in people’s lives.“I value the human life, and I work in thisspecialty because I think it’s mostly joyfulmoments,” he said. “I think babies are the mostinnocent patients, and they didn't deserve that(being in NICU). I’m grateful to have a part in theirlife.”Mercurio is one of 24 WesternU students whoreceived U.S. Department of Veterans Affairseducational benefits for the 2011-12 academic year,which include the GI Bill and Educational andVocational Counseling.The majority of veterans on campus are in thePhysician Assistant program, according toKimberley M. de Kruif, MBA, assistant vicepresident of Enrollment Management andRegistrar.Six of nine WesternU colleges have at least oneveteran.“It’s growing every year,” said de Kruif. “In fouryears, veterans on campus have multiplied fivetimes, and more will behere next year duringthe 2012-13 academicyear.”After the Sept. 11terrorist attacks,Mercurio’s unit wasactivated, serving a yearof duty at CampPendleton as a quickreaction force, whichSeth Mercurioassists local lawenforcement in theevent of a terrorist attack in the U.S.In 2001, his battalion guarded variousbases in Kuwait until it was deployed toIraq in 2003.“In Iraq, we went up the middle by 7-ton trucks,called Light Armored Vehicles,” as part of TaskForce Tripoli in 2003, Mercurio said. “We went toTikrit, Sadaam Hussein’s hometown, and clearedthat area.”His unit also helped rearm the Iraqi Army andhelped train them.Mercurio was under fire outside of Nasiriya whileclearing the town, identifying remaining regimes,and rescuing POWs, including Army soldier JessicaLynch. Continued on page 14WesternU View Summer 2012 13