On The Front Lines: Nick Perry

Before going to the state Assembly in the early 1990s, Nick Perry had charted a career path to a different legislative body: the Parliament of Jamaica. To get there, he decided the U.S. Army would provide a good course. 

Within a year of emigrating to the United States from Jamaica in 1971, Perry volunteered for the draft. It was the height of the Vietnam War, and the future assemblyman expected combat. He was stationed in Oakland, widely considered to be the gateway to Saigon, but instead landed in Korea as a medical specialist. 

“I was motivated to serve because my dream was to return to Jamaica after finishing a college education and participate in the political arena … and serve in the Parliament there,” Perry recalled. 

Because Jamaica was in political and social turmoil after he left the Army, he said, he remained stateside. “My motivation to serve in the Army was to provide myself with a very rounded, comprehensive preparation to be a really solid and qualified public servant in Jamaica. I thought military training and experience would prepare me should I have the opportunity to run for prime minister of Jamaica, because in Jamaica the prime minster is also the minister of defense.” 

Perry didn’t end up running for prime minister, but upon returning to New York City after his military service, he started getting involved in politics at the grassroots level. After becoming an American citizen, he was elected in 1992 to the Assembly, where he currently serves as deputy majority leader. He is also chairman of the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators. 

Two decades in the Assembly may have tempered Perry’s aspirations to become Jamaica’s prime minister, but they have not diminished the benefits of his military training. 

“You learn in the Army to follow orders and to be able to give them, so you can be in command as well as be someone who can follow directions,” Perry said. “You have to sacrifice your own feelings and preferences, but you are doing it for the common good. That means you learn to be part of a team and to focus on the goal that is to be achieved to complete the mission.” 

Military Branch: Army 

Rank Achieved: Specialist E-5