Bound by experience, UMaine veterans demonstrate perseverance and importance of community
A Navy medic who worked in jungles and deserts. A seaman who travelled to nearly 30 countries. An Army mechanic stationed in seven different places across the U.S. A Marine who wants to be a pilot and responded to a catastrophic plane crash.
They are among the hundreds of veterans and active military members pursuing degrees at the University of Maine — and their community is growing. This fall, UMaine welcomed a record 638 degree-seeking veterans and their dependents.
To better understand the military and veteran student experience at UMaine, we sat down with Army veteran Holly Zschetzsche of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, active-duty Marine Andrew Gregory of Pittsburgh, and Navy veterans Malachi Lakey of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Paul Montroy of Hubbardsville, New York. They discussed the formative moments of their military careers and their time at UMaine.
Malachi Lakey — from isolation to exploration
Lakey graduated from boot camp on Valentine’s Day in 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic. During his continued military training, he endured several two-week quarantines, sometimes alone in rooms with only a bed and chair.
He specifically remembers quarantining with a friend in air crew school and supporting each other through personal struggles while eating Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) kits of lasagna with kidney beans, among other meals.
“My friend was going through nicotine withdrawal. I was going through a breakup. It was crazy, but it was a good bonding experience for us,” Lakey said.
Yet after finishing his at times isolated military schooling, he travelled the world. He visited more than two dozen countries in Africa and the Mediterranean while working as a mass communication specialist for the Navy. One memorable experience was working aboard the only ship assigned to the U.S. Africa Command — the USS Hershel “Woody” Williams — and circumnavigating the continent.
“That’s not really an experience that most sailors get — unless they’re a ‘Seabee’ — so I was pretty lucky on that,” he said.
After completing his service, he enrolled in UMaine’s wildlife ecology bachelor’s program, with a minor in criminal justice, in spring 2024. He said it’s “the wildlife program” on the East Coast, and it’s closer to family.
Like many veterans, Lakey struggled to connect with other students. Being a decade older and having work experience in intense environments, Lakey said it can be hard to relate to many of his typically younger peers. In search of belonging, he visited Veterans Education and Transition Services (VETS) Center at the Memorial Union two weeks into his first semester. There, Lakey found people like him who connect over past service, shared challenges and inside jokes.
“It’s humorous and unpredictable. We don’t need to translate our branch-specific lingo, our jargon. It feels it’s a very natural space to occupy,” said Lakey.
Andrew Gregory — Taking to the skies, undeterred by tragedy
Gregory has been in the Marine Corps for 11 years, particularly working as a helicopter crew chief and mechanic. One of his most career-defining experiences was responding to a tanker/transport aircraft crash that killed 16 Marines and sailors in the summer of 2017. For two weeks in Mississippi, he and hundreds of other service members recovered personal effects, weapons and parts from the wreckage.
“We’re a small community, especially in the Marine Corps, aviation in particular, and a lot of people knew the individuals on the aircraft. And then it also impacted the ground Raider community as well,” Gregory said. “It was a terrible circumstance, but it was good seeing how everyone came together.”
The crash, however, never steered Gregory away from wanting to be a pilot in the Marine Corps, which requires a bachelor’s degree. Similar to Lakey, Gregory enrolled in UMaine’s wildlife ecology program because it’s close to family and “kind of the East Coast standard for wildlife.”
For Gregory, the VETS Center started as a place to study, but became one for conversation, movies and lively debates about which branch had the worst coffee, who invented the whoopie pie and what a pickle is — anything pickled or just cucumbers. Gregory credits the support network and camaraderie primarily to Tony Llerena, its associate director. Thanks in part to Llerena, UMaine earned accolades like 2025-2026 Military Friendly School and one of the top performers nationwide in veteran student support and success during and after college.
“Tony’s awesome. The fact that he provides us with things we need. He’s always asking, ‘What can we do better in the VETS Center? What can we provide you guys?’” Gregory said. “And then he’s also about growing the community. So I think he does an amazing job of that.”
Holly Zschetzsche — Resilience through unity
In eight years in the Army, Zschetzsche was stationed at Forts Huachuca, Hood, Bragg and McCoy for active service, and at two units in Wisconsin and one in Maine as a reservist. As a mechanic, Zschetzsche rode and repaired wreckers, trucks and other large vehicles during cross-country trips.
Zschetzsche’s military career came to a close after she fractured her tibia. She waited six months for a follow-up appointment to have her cast removed. Thanks to the persistence of her unit members who were trying to connect her with care, she was able to secure that appointment and get her cast removed. Her comrades also helped connect her with financial support to afford the care she needed.
“That year was absolute hell. However, my unit really came together in trying to figure out how to get me the resources I needed,” she said.
Zschetzsche, now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, has witnessed the same loyalty and camaraderie among fellow veterans and active-duty military at UMaine. Like Lakey and Gregory, Zschetzsche had trouble connecting with other students until she came to the VETS Center.
“When I really started hanging down here in between my classes, that’s when I really started to like college, because I had a place to go,” she said. “We see it all the time in the VETS office, people will come down and they’ll sit in the corner, far away from everybody, and then slowly over time, they’ll start gathering in the middle of the table.”
Paul Montroy — Bridging the gap between veterans and civilians
During five years with the Navy, Montroy primarily worked as a hospital corpsman treating ill and injured infantrymen. He spent the most time in South Korea.
Montroy often recalls working with several medical officers, both those who were reliable because of their knowledge and military experience and those who were ill-equipped for the job. One officer who was commissioned right from medical school injured three people in the back of an ambulance by applying ice packs directly to their skin — despite them not having fevers. Montroy kicked him out of the vehicle afterward.
“So we had good medical officers, and we had some very dumb ones,” he said. “We had one who came to us from the army, of all places. He had three combat tours to Iraq, and then went to the Navy route to be a physician assistant. He was actually a knowledgeable provider, which was very nice.”
Since spring 2024, Montroy has been pursuing a degree in sustainable agriculture to someday open a farm stand. Without the VETS office, Montroy said he wouldn’t socialize, only going to class and Fogler Library.
“I’m twice the age of the standard college freshman right now, so it’s difficult to want to engage,” he said, adding that at the VETS Center, “We can all just be ourselves in there.”
Like Zschetzsche, Gregory and Lakey, Montroy is a work study student for the center he loves. In particular, he provides the Green Zone training, educating UMaine community members about the issues student veterans face and how to best connect them with the appropriate support.
“It would be good if more faculty and staff, and professors would take it, because then they’d understand us better,” Montroy said.
To learn more about the training and other services offered by the VETS Center for veterans, reservists and other community members, visit its website.
Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu