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11/10/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/11/2026 04:44

An Army Veteran and BU PhD Candidate’s Journey from Military to Academia

An Army Veteran and BU PhD Candidate's Journey from Military to Academia

Jonathan Martin (GRS'26,28) spent 21 years in the US Army before retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2022. Now, he's researching Arctic geopolitics as part of his political science PhD program at BU.

Campus Life

An Army Veteran and BU PhD Candidate's Journey from Military to Academia

This Veterans Day, Jonathan Martin reflects on serving in the Iraq War, what the Army taught him, and what led him to BU

November 10, 2026
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On September 11, 2001, Jonathan Martin was sitting in an M1A1 tank at Fort Knox, Ky., preparing to fire his first round when a call came over the radio.

"Cease fire. Clear all systems."

Everyone on base was told they needed to secure the military installation where Martin, a recent college graduate and commissioned second lieutenant in the US Army, was training to become an Armor officer.

That call, an immediate response to the attacks by Al-Qaeda terrorists on 9/11, shaped Martin's 21-year career in the military. It would take him across the world, from Germany and the Balkans to Iraq and Afghanistan as part of America's global war on terrorism. It would also lead Martin (GRS'26,'28) to Boston University, where he has left behind decades of military service for academic leadership as a teaching fellow and political science PhD candidate studying a growing area of interest for global politics: the Arctic.

He's been able to call on-and cultivate in students-the discipline, critical thinking, and sense of curiosity that the armed forces instilled in him. "I enjoyed leading soldiers, and when I teach here at BU, I get so much energy from the students," Martin says. "Now that I've done this full career, I can bring a lot into the classroom to the next generation."

I enjoyed leading soldiers, and when I teach here at BU, I get so much energy from the students. Now that I've done this full career, I can bring a lot into the classroom to the next generation.
Jonathan Martin

Martin was familiar with the military from a young age: He came from a family with generations of service members. His grandfather served in the Navy during World War II, his father in the Army during the Vietnam War. By the time Martin retired from the military in 2022, he had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded hundreds of soldiers.

In 2001, Martin graduated from St. Lawrence University, where he studied economics and went through the school's Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program. He then moved to Kentucky for the Army's officer basic training course at Fort Knox. The attacks on 9/11 disrupted his training and transformed Fort Knox and every other US military base into fortresses.

"All our bases were open at that point," Martin says. "So, the focus for all installations, not just overseas but domestic, became, how do we secure our perimeters because who knew what was coming next?"

He completed his training in 2001 and was stationed in Germany, where he was a platoon leader and an executive officer in the 1st Battalion, 77th Armored Regiment. In 2002, he deployed to Kosovo and later to Iraq.

After a year-long tour in Iraq, he returned to the United States in 2005 and was stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y. He oversaw training for a cavalry squadron of more than 500 soldiers before returning to Iraq in 2007 for a 14-month tour, commanding a troop of 115 soldiers.

Martin (center) with his tank crew from the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, in 2004 in Fort Bliss, Tex. Courtesy of Martin

When Martin returned stateside, he earned a master's in international relations and diplomacy from Seton Hall University in 2010. It sparked an interest in higher education and what he might have to offer in the classroom.

After all, every deployment was an opportunity to learn new skills, lead new soldiers, and interact with people from different cultures, he says.

"I always had a get-out-and-see-the-world mentality," he says. "So when I joined the army it was just a new, formalized extension of that."

He went on to earn two more master's degrees-in leadership and security from the Latvian National Defense Academy and in advanced military and operational studies from the Marine Corps University-in between serving in Afghanistan from 2014 to 2015 and again in Germany from 2016 to 2018.

By the time Martin began teaching full-time in the US Naval War College in 2021, he knew it was time to move on from the military. After the constant moves demanded by military service--he had relocated 12 times over 21 years--it was time for a change.

When he was accepted into the political science PhD program at BU, it was an opportunity for Martin to dive into academia-and an area of geopolitics he had grown increasingly curious about.

Historically, the Arctic has been a region where global cooperation is the norm. That has changed in recent years, as melting ice has opened up new opportunities for extracting resources and President Donald Trump's focus on the area has reshaped diplomatic ties within international Arctic alliances. Martin is studying how countries are using those international relationships around the Arctic to pursue their own interests.

"You have all these overlapping organizations with overlapping membership and mandates, so it adds a lot of complexity to security and governance complexity," Martin says.

Even with an entire career behind him, Martin admits that his time at BU has been a reminder that he never stopped being a student. His time in the military still informs his work at BU, but it's everything he doesn't know, all the questions he still has, all the knowledge he is still learning, that continues to drive him into a career where teaching is his primary focus.

"Even after decades of military experience, I'm now constantly learning more and reflecting," Martin says. "Lifelong learning never stops."

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