Introducing the Military Advisor: Meet Eric Cox

We are excited to announce a new position within the Learner Advising and Life Resources (LALR) Department, the Military Advisor. Eric Cox will be celebrating his three-year work-iversay in September. He started his journey with the College being a General Education (GE) instructor teaching Social Sciences. However, with his twenty-seven years experience in the military, he became interested in serving the College in a different fashion and gravitated toward the Military Advisor position. Joining an incredible team of learner advocates in LALR, we are thrilled to share that Eric is the new Military Advisor for learners.

To learn more about services provided by Nightingale College’s LALR Department, click here.

What is your current position?

Military Advisor

What interested you about the Military Advisor position?

I served in the military (Army/Air Force) for 27 years in both combat and medical capacities. I worked with nearly every specialty among all the services. I understand the challenges facing military members, both active and reserve, and their families. One of my favorite roles while in the military was a mentor. I very much enjoyed getting to know those I worked with, their passions and goals, and then helping them achieve them. I see this role as something very similar.

How does your position relate to learners?

I’m sure you know what LALR does. I’ll just focus on the military side but work with any learner.

What are you most excited about in your new position?

See #3

Share one piece of advice for the learners of Nightingale.

Don’t play leap frog with a unicorn.

Finish this sentence: When I am not at work, you can find me . . . 

See the next response.

What are some of your hobbies and interests?

Golf, boating, hiking, fishing, hunting, shooting.

Health and wellness is a passion of yours. How would you advise our learners to implement a regular fitness routine into their schedule? 

Very similar to #2 above

From your personal experience, what advice and tips would you give to our learners about time management?

Big rocks first. You’ve probably seen the demonstration or heard the example. Take a jar, some bigger rocks and lots of small rocks/sand. If you put the smaller rocks in first there won’t be room for all the big rocks. But if you put the big rocks in first, all the smaller ones will fit in there. So do some life triage and discover which things are the most important and take care of those first. There will always be time to get to enough of the lower priority things.

What are three things you learned that has helped you become the person you are today?

Serve selflessly, respect is earned, don’t panic (you’re more likely to die if you do)

Tell us about your military experience. Did you have a specialty? Any fun moments that you would like to share?

In the Army I was an 11C – Indirect Fire Infantry (I shot mortars). An interesting moment anyway. I shot the 107-mm mortar which was prone to misfires after the firing tube got hot. During a fire mission we experienced a hung round so everyone but me moved 50 meters away since the round had a 40 meter kill radius. As the gunner, my job was to jump up and down on the firing tube and try to get the round to fire. The round made it to the firing pin and KABOOM. Scared me pretty good.

In the Air Force I was a 43A – Aerospace and Operational Physiologist. One of the most fun things I did was jump out of airplanes and helicopters. I attached a few pics. The mortar in the track is like the one I shot. The other two are of me. The one in the plane is just before we jumped and the other is landing (obviously). Although I should have included one of me showing off my superb mouse and keyboard skills.