Nick Pell (a.k.a. Pell Grant) paid his dues and constructed his reputation within the U.S. Army Special Forces Community with care and precision well before accepting the offer from CIA's SAS-PM (Special Activities Staff-Paramilitary [Division]).  Growing up an Air Force brat from TX but then graduating high school in Cheyenne, WY at 17 in 1984 as a member of Honors List his parents, two Air Force officers, begrudgingly signed the consent form for Nick to joined the U.S. Army. From there he began a process, a lifestyle really, of Qualification Courses a.k.a. Q Courses that would transform the young rodeo cowboy into a Delta Operator. Following Boot, Nick pass Airborne, then Pathfinder, and was attached to the 507th who promptly pushed for him to attend the SERE-C courses. He graduated all three courses within his first year of active duty (while simultaneously attending the Away Studies Program from the University of Maryland with a focus in International Studies. Recognizing his massive potential Pell's commanders insisted their warrior prodigy be fast tracked into the Special Forces pipeline and he was granted a waiver to attend the Special Forces Q Course one year ahead of the then three year active duty minimum requirement.  Some 14 months later, at just 20 1/2 years of age, he emerged at the other side of the pipeline an 18E (Communications Sergeant) earning his Green Beret in late 1987.  Sergeant Nicholas Pell was assigned to 1st Btn.,5th SFG, ODA 535(A).  Once with 535 the training only intensified as his A Team added the 18F (Intelligence Sergeant) school to his resume followed by two years at Defense Language Institute (DLI) where he graduated in early 1990 with top honors in both Pashto and Arabic jumped to Staff Sergeant and was given choice of schools or post for each of the two honors.  SSG Pell chose the Combat Diver Course and the Military Free Fall (MFF) course but was only able to complete the MFF to earn his HALO wings ahead of the 5th's deployment to Saudi Arabia in support of Desert Shield/Storm. Upon his return Nick reported to Special Forces Underwater Operations School at Key West FL to undergo CDQC and no sooner had he passed and pinned his Special Operations Diver Badge on that he was deployed along with a select few A-Teams from 5 SFG to Somalia where they worked as part of Task Force Ranger. Fresh out of his Combat Diver training Nick was assigned to a Joint Services Underwater Task Force of  Navy SEALs, Marine Force Recon, and Army Dive Units, responsible for Maritime Operations including: intercepts, hydrographic surveys, reconnaissance, and security patrols.  It is was there that he met a brutish Marine Recon Gunnery Sergeant by the name of Damien Oliver Alexander. Upon his return to garrison in 1993 from Operation Restore Hope, he was offered the opportunity to attend "Selection" for Delta where he served in all three squadrons from 1994 until his separation from the Army in 1998 after 14 years of service as a E7 Sergeant First Class. In early 1999 Former Delta Trooper SFC Pell  ​accepted a job with CIA's Special Activity Staff / Paramilitary Detachment (SAS-PM). In the weeks following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the U.S. SAS-PM deployed several teams into the Hindu Kush and then deep into Afghanistan under the codename: Jawbreaker. As part of Jawbreaker Three, Nick Pell and his team set out to buy the allegiance of the fractured Northern Alliance in order to employ them against the governing Taliban; he and along with the rest of the Jawbreaker were awarded the Intelligence Star for their successful efforts but not before and old friend came to his rescue.