Nicolle M. Brossard (b. 1983), of Portland, Oregon, has served in the United States Army and Army Reserves since 2001. She is a mental health specialist, drug and alcohol counselor, and a master resiliency trainer. Nicolle Brossard was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and attended school in Sherwood, Oregon, where she was part of the Future Farmers of America Organization. Before graduating high school, Brossard met with a United States Army recruiter about the possibility of a mental health specialist job, enrolled in a delayed entry program, and initially signed a contract for six years of active reserve service. Brossard attended basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, before traveling to Fort Sam Houston, Texas for medical training at the Army Medical Department Center and School. After returning home in July 2002, Brossard completed reserve training at Fort Vancouver, Washington, and attended Portland State University in Oregon. In 2006, she began taking classes for psychology at Portland Community College while working with army convoys, and eventually became a company training non-commissioned officer (NCO). In the winter of 2008, Brossard transferred to Pacific University, and was then informed that she would be deployed with the 113th combat stress control detachment to Afghanistan. On November 4, 2009, Brossard left for Fort Hood, Texas to complete pre-deployment tasks, and was there the next day when the Fort Hood shooting incident occurred [The Fort Hood shooting was a mass murder and terrorist attack by Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old United States Army major serving as a psychiatrist.] She assisted at the hospital with the casualties, including some from her own unit.<br.In December 2009, Brossard flew to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, and then to Kandahar, ending up at Forward Operating Base Frontenac. Working as a mental health specialist there, Brossard worked with people experiencing sleep problems and combat stress issues. She volunteered with the morale, welfare, recreation tent (MWR), and did work at Forward Operating Base Lagman in Zabul Province, and Forward Operating Base Bullard. After returning from deployment, Brossard attended the one year anniversary of the Fort Hood shootings. She then decided to study nutrition at Wellspring Academies in Brevard, North Carolina, before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After graduating with a degree in Nutrition in 2013, Brossard was accepted into the Military Baylor Graduate Program in Nutrition.
