From ‘what if’ to 10 years of service: A Northmarq Veterans Day story

A few days into Noel Nicklay’s first training with the U.S. Army Reserve, the main power supply for her unit’s radios stopped working.

There was no backup. 

The solution was to turn the commander’s Humvee into a makeshift communications center. During the three-week training, Nicklay spent between 12 and 16 hours a day inside the Humvee at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, operating the radio and helping keep communications moving. 

Eventually, she trained others to take shifts alongside her.

“It was a good experience as far as training and learning,” said Nicklay, a member of Northmarq’s Loan Servicing team.

Ten years later, Noel has built careers in both the military and at Northmarq around that same kind of communication and adaptability. 

This Wednesday is Veterans Day, a Northmarq company holiday, and Northmarq wants to honor all veterans and those in active service here and abroad — especially those in our workforce, like Noel. 

Answering the ‘what if?’
In the Army Reserve today as a staff sergeant, Nicklay specializes in communications systems, setting up, operating and troubleshooting equipment ranging from radios to satellite systems. She has served in several units and deployed to Kuwait, where she worked at her battalion’s battle desk tracking missions, urgent requests and other critical communications.

That path was not necessarily one she expected to take.

Nicklay had already earned her bachelor’s degree when she enlisted. Education benefits were a major motivation, but so was a question that had stayed with her since she first considered joining the Army when she was younger: What if?

She originally envisioned completing her initial commitment, which spans eight years. Instead, a decade later, she is still serving.

Along the way, she has used her experience navigating military education benefits to help junior enlisted soldiers do the same.

Lessons that carry forward
Her military experience has also shaped how she approaches her work at Northmarq.

Nicklay said one of the most transferable skills she developed in the military is adaptability, which she applies at Northmarq when priorities quickly shift. And her experience communicating with senior military leaders has also made her comfortable working with borrowers and lenders.

For Nicklay, Veterans Day is an opportunity to recognize the many experiences and sacrifices that come with military service — including time spent away from family, civilian careers and everyday life.
“Serving in the military takes so much time,” she said. “There’s so much that veterans and their families sacrifice, and that deserves to be recognized.”