The Good Life – March-April 2024

LOCAL HERO | MARVIN NICKLAY
By 1989, he had earned the rank of first
sergeant and was ready to lead his first
overseas mission. His unit was scheduled to
do two-week rotations in Honduras to build
a road between towns.
“It was an eye-opener,” he said of his
first trip outside the United States. Most
transport was by foot or donkey. Clothes were washed
in creeks and laid on rocks to dry. Huts had openings
but no doors or windows that could close. Food was
made in clay ovens inside or next to huts. Fighting
was taking place with the nearby Nicaraguans, too,
and the conflict lodged a few bullet holes in the unit’s
equipment.
Nicklay returned to Honduras in 1992, when the
project wrapped up, for closing ceremonies.
Marching Ahead with Future Leaders
On November 1, 1994, – after “32 years, 4 months
and one day … well, maybe an hour or so short for the
full day” – Nicklay retired from the military. He had
earned the right to don a veteran cap and relax, but
that wasn’t his nature.
By 1996, he acknowledged something was missing
from his life, so he walked into Bentson Bunker
Fieldhouse at North Dakota State University, which
housed the college’s ROTC program, and offered
himself up. By that fall, he was volunteering at 7 a.m.
Wednesday mornings to teach the students drill and
ceremony. As an experienced NCO, he considered
marching and leading troops a specialty of his. He
returned every Wednesday evening to provide more
training.
That wasn’t all, though.
When Nicklay first approached the ROTC leadership
in the spring, they were packing up at the end of the
school year. When he returned in the fall, they were
packing up again, but this time for a field training
exercise at Camp Ripley, near Little Falls, Minnesota.
That was on a Thursday. The next day, Nicklay had his
bags packed and was heading out with them.
Due to the military drawdown at the time, there were
only three ROTC leaders on staff.
“I told them, ‘Whenever you get filled up or don’t need
me, just tell me. I don’t want to get in the way.’”
It seemed he never did interfere.
32 | THE GOOD LIFE