Freshman Takes Aim On New Field

While most of us are begging our professors to have more midterm reviews or desperately searching for that elusive summer internship, Corporal Thomas Rubel is having his easiest days in a long time.

“This is a vacation for me,” Rubel says.

Tom may have had his last real vacation in the summer of 2003, when there was a lot going through his mind. He was considering offers to play both football and lacrosse in college. Although he never picked up a stick until his football coach at Phillips Exeter (who was also the lacrosse coach) insisted, he became a better lacrosse player and captained the team his senior year, earning MVP honors as a defenseman. But when Tom made a decision to sign some papers before his senior year, he wasn’t thinking letters of intent. Instead, he signed on to be a member of the United States Marine Corps.

In August 2004, Tom departed for basic training at Parris Island, S.C. before entering the School of Infantry at Camp Geiger, N.C. Just before he graduated from the infantry school in March 2005, he was told that a unit was needed overseas. Ten days later, as an 18-year-old infantryman, Tom Rubel deployed to Fallujah, Iraq. After serving seven months in Fallujah, Tom returned to the states and was selected to try out for the sniper platoon. Out of the 70 who were chosen to begin the tryout, only nine remained at the end, and Tom was one of seven selected to join the platoon. From there, Tom was chosen to attend Scout Sniper School, where he overcame a 70% attrition rate, graduating in June 2006. After returning to his unit as assistant team leader, Tom deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, in September 2006.

“During the tryout to be in the sniper platoon, we started early on Monday and went until Friday night with little food and no sleep. All we did was train, run, and do all-night patrols,” Rubel says. “You could quit at any time, but I realized that your body is capable of so much more than you think it is. Everything hurt, but it was doable.”

Tom spent nine months in Ramadi and, due to the good reputation he had earned overseas, he was offered a job as a scout sniper instructor at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

“The time in Ramadi was very intense. It was the most dangerous city in Iraq at the time, and my team ran a lot of missions,” Rubel says. “There were many times when it was just the six of us in our position, going through tough, dangerous engagements, but the guys were great and we were able to get out of them alright everytime.”

When Tom came back from Ramadi, he found it was time to start looking ahead to his future. Although the corporal was mindful of his options for school, Tom wasn’t ready to stop the adventures just yet. In December of 2008, Tom traveled to Australia, where he spent seven months kiteboarding and working in Newcastle, New South Wales. Rubel built conrete barriers for Mountain Industries by day and worked at a club by night.

“I got to meet the most real people in Australia,” Rubel recalls. “I liked working with the salt of the earth type people who were just really good guys. Most people go to Australia and do all the tourist stuff. That’s not me.”

When Tom returned from Australia, he was in the same position as most people anxiously awaiting their first month at Harvard. He spent that summer as a kiteboarding instructor in Surf City, N.C., before preparing to head back to school as a 23-year-old freshman.

“It was a tough decision for me to come back to school…there is a lot of money in the private sector for former snipers, but I knew that going to school was only going to open doors for me and it certainly wasn’t going to close any,” Rubel says. “When I visited Coach Tillman [after returning from Ramadi, Iraq], he told me he had a lot of good lacrosse players but that he needed some good men. I knew that I wanted to play for him and that he’d bring the right kind of guys here to compete.”

One thing that certainly was a challenge for Tom was thinking about how he would fit in as an older student. Despite the age gap, Tom has managed to blend in seamlessly with the Harvard culture on and off the field.

“I remember when he came into my office and I looked up and saw this guy walking in and I ask, ‘Who are you?’” Harvard coach John Tillman recalls. “He says, ‘Hey I’m Tom Rubel, I’m applying here.’ And I think, ‘Great!’ Then he says, ‘Yeah, I’m just getting out of the Marine Corps,’ and I say ‘Great!’ He’s like any other college student, though. He blends in really well and is just a happy-go-lucky kind of guy.”

Although Tom is older and in an unusual situation, he doesn’t shy away from doing things the right way. Rather than seeking to live off-campus or surrounding himself with people closer to his age, Tom is enjoying living with three freshman roommates in Canaday Hall.

“I was really nervous coming back to school and fitting into a college setting,” Rubel says. “But, I’ve got three great roommates, and I look at them the same way I look at my teammates—like little brothers. It makes me different from them, but it allows me to be in a position to help them. Everything’s been working out great.

On the field, Tom is currently recovering from back surgery he underwent this past fall to correct a ruptured disc. Although he’s almost back to 100 percent, he’s been finding his niche on the team as a role model and leader while he continues his recovery.

“I’m a freshman in terms of knowing the team and the game, but when it comes to toughness and being a man, I can teach the guys things by showing up every day and setting an example,” Rubel says. “I think my biggest strength is my toughness and life experience. I won’t complain. I tell them that it’s really not that bad—no matter how hard practice is, we’re still lucky. We’re at Harvard, playing a fun game. No one is shooting at us, and when practice is over in a few hours, we’ll be able to go home.”

Even though the men’s lacrosse team hasn’t even begun the season, Tom’s presence on the team has made an immediate impact.

“His disposition is always very solid,” Tillman says. “He’s always very disciplined, very organized. He’s always doing whatever it takes. He’s fantastic.”

After spending time as a sniper, kiteboard instructor, and construction worker in Australia, it’s not hard to imagine that Harvard might seem, well, boring to Tom. Although he recognizes that Harvard can be a bubble, he remains cognizant of the opportunities that he’s been granted.

“I do realize that it’s a privilege to be here,” Rubel says. “I’m just thankful that I have four years of my life planned, and I’m just enjoying it. I try to take care of what I can take care of, and I know there will be more opportunities at the end of the tunnel.”

—Staff writer Colin Whelehan can be reached at whelehan@fas.harvard.edu.