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At age 18, Eric Bolles was ready to chart his course in the world. He thrived in physical activities and found purpose in teamwork. With a long line of family members who served in the military, a life in uniform felt like a natural path. He chose the Air Force, trained as a helicopter mechanic, and began what would become the first chapter in a life shaped by service.

“I was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is a training base,” Bolles said. “My day-to-day mission was to keep the helicopters ready for those crews, and I knew I had their lives in my hands.”

Today, 26 years later, Bolles again holds lives in his hands as a 2025 graduate of the UB School of Nursing’s accelerated bachelor’s degree program. The highly competitive program is designed for students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree and are ready to begin a new career chapter in nursing.

After his first chapter of military service, Bolles began his second as a police officer in western New York, where he served 17 years with the Batavia Police Department. The career shift followed a brief stint working as a machinist in a small shop – a job that helped him to realize he wanted more from his work.

“It was one year of working on critical infrastructure [giant pumps for wastewater treatment plants], and I appreciated how important that was, but that first winter of downtime was enough to push me to find more. It was pure luck that I found the civil service exam for law enforcement,” Bolles said.

A high score and his veteran status earned him an immediate position with the department.

Law enforcement was a good fit and fulfilled what Bolles had not initially realized was missing from his life: A greater sense of purpose. He felt more fulfilled through serving the Batavia community and, eventually, leading a team of officers.

In addition to serving as a patrol officer, Bolles advanced to become a field training officer. He later led the department’s emergency response team, served as chemical munitions instructor and earned a promotion to sergeant. 

“Even though law enforcement often showed me a negative side of the human condition, I still had to build rapport. That’s how we deescalated crises — we focused on helping people feel heard,” Bolles said.

There were, he added, numerous times he and his fellow officers arrived first on scene where someone needed medical help, but they were restricted from performing life-saving procedures. All they could do was wait until Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrived to take over.

“Most police officers do not have the type of personality that is comfortable with that feeling [of not being able to help], me included,” Bolles said.

When he was nearing retirement, he already knew having a greater sense of purpose was key to his happiness. This is when he began to envision nursing as his third chapter. Bolles credits his wife, Stacy, as the ultimate partner through each career transition. He saw nursing as a meaningful vocation that could move with them, especially as their three children reach adulthood. 

“When I found out UB has the ABSN degree, it seemed too good of an opportunity not to at least take a shot at it,” Bolles said.

UB has long been part of his personal community. The campus is close to home, his father retired from the university after working in its lab facilities, and his brother earned an accounting degree from UB.

“UB was the best match for me and my family,” he said.

Bolles noted that his career in law enforcement gave him a unique perspective on bedside nursing. While the patients he encountered during clinical rotations were experiencing difficult situations, he often found that they were more grateful and positive than those he typically encountered as an officer.

Forging rapport with these patients came naturally, and he leaned into the time he could spend with them as a student. One patient stood out:

“I was assigned to a woman on palliative care in one of my rotations. She was not totally aware of what was going on around her but that doesn't really change how you treat or talk to a person. Later in the day, I walked into the room and her daughters were with her,” he recalled, “They were facing her, but she was facing the doorway. When she met my eyes, she smiled so big, and her face lit up so brightly, that it startled her daughters who immediately turned to see what caught mom’s eye. That look on her face is something that will stick with me forever,” Bolles said.

The moment offered a brief but meaningful relief from the stress in the room. It also brought back a memory from years earlier, when his cousin was dying from complications from Cystic Fibrosis – a moment that left a lasting impression on him.

“His last few months were in an ICU and in more pain than I've ever seen, Bolles said. “He woke up when I visited and hit me with the same kind of smile.”

Bolles steps into nursing without trepidation thanks to another important skill: adapting to high-pressure environments. As a law enforcement officer, he learned to prepare psychologically and physically while racing toward unpredictable situations.

He said this ability to stay calm in hectic situations translates directly to nursing, especially when a patient is in crisis. He saw this often during his capstone rotation at the Buffalo VA Medical Center intensive care unit.

“Stress can cause tunnel vision and impact fine motor skills and auditory processing, so I’ve trained myself to take deep breaths and keep my eyes moving laterally to interrupt those limitations but still get the benefits of an adrenaline dump,” he said.

Bolles’ experiences as a non-traditional student and his team-focused outlook inspired him to coordinate self-defense classes for his nursing cohort. Some of his classmates – most of whom are young women – have taken part in the sessions, which are instructed by a former Batavia Police Department colleague turned firefighter. ()

If a sense of purpose has been Bolles’ driving force, then creating community wherever he goes has been his impact. He recalls a conversation with a patient during his VA rotation – an exchange that centered on not how much you do in life, but the meaning behind what you do.

“While I’ve done a lot of different things and plan to do more, it’s not about jamming in as much as you can,” he said. “It’s about watching for opportunities. You build a life that way.”

By TERRA OSTERLING