Aggies line the seats with hands across their hearts as “The Star-Spangled Banner” bellows throughout Kyle Field. As the anthem comes to an end, a moment of silent pride begins to shift as a distinctive hum sounds in the distance — the aircraft of a game-day flyover.
On Sept. 6, U.S. Coast Guard Standardization Team Officer Lt. Nicholas Mrak ‘18 served as an aircraft commander on a Eurocopter MH-65 Dolphin during the flyover before the Utah State game, along with other pilots.
Born in Okinawa, Japan, Nicholas was surrounded by military influence as his father, Douglas Mrak ‘90, served in the Marines for most of his childhood. Like most military families, Nicholas was never in one place for long. It wasn’t until his early adolescent years that his family had somewhere to call home.
“When people ask me where am I from, I do say North Carolina, and I would say the same for both my brothers,” sister Kate Mrak ‘18 said. “I mean, that is our home base, and that’s where we all call home and are very familiar with.”
Growing up, Kate shared a close bond with Nicholas not only as his sister, but as his twin.
Though the two are the same age, Kate has always seen Nicholas as an older brother, defending her when she needed him most. One of her fondest memories of their dynamic was when Nicholas intervened and stopped her high school bully.
“I remember verbatim the kid actually came to our front door and apologized to me directly, and it was all influenced by my twin just talking to him and saying, ‘Hey, there’s really no reason to pick on her, she hasn’t really done anything,’” Kate said. “And I think it just speaks to how he is, right? He doesn’t want to see anyone treated unfairly. He has a big heart for people.”
Nicholas’ family says many of his core values and traits make him fit for military service and helping others, making it no surprise that out of his siblings, he was the one to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, for Nicholas, this wasn’t always the case. Graduating from Texas A&M in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in wildlife & fisheries sciences and involvement in the Corps of Cadets, he initially had aspirations to manage ranches — among them Joshua Creek Ranch.
In December 2018, Nicholas was drawn to the idea of serving his country, which led him to join the U.S. Coast Guard as a direct commission officer before being picked for flight school a little over a year into the position. After training, Nicholas flew his first plane in 2020, a Cessna 172 Skyhawk.
“The easiest way to relate it, is probably thinking all the way back to driver’s ed or driving a car for the first time, it could be overwhelming,” Nicholas said. “There’s a lot of moving pieces, a lot of things going on. You’re using all sensory skills, your eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet. As you continue to do it more and more, it becomes easier, it becomes second nature.”
For the past five years, Nicholas has been serving as a Coast Guard pilot, carrying out mariner search-and-rescue missions and providing aviation support to interventions against illegal drug and fishing operations.
“Nick likes excitement and danger,” Nicholas’ mother, Edith Mrak, said. “He’s my daredevil child, but he has the tenacity to help people in a bad situation. He’s the guy you want to see coming on your worst day.”
With his duties as a Coast Guard pilot, Nicholas often sees people on their hardest days. Notably, he was involved as a pilot in the search-and-rescue missions for this past summer’s Texas Hill Country flash-flooding catastrophe. Positive impacts like these have inspired those around him, including Kate, who wrapped up her career in teaching to join the Coast Guard.
“I would say four branches that were offered for the DOD [Department of Defense], really never sung to me, I wasn’t really sold to each one of them,” Kate said. “ … My twin, Nick, actually went to the Coast Guard. That was his passion and goal almost right off the bat after graduating from A&M. … A big part of what the Coast Guard does is Selfless Service, helping others and that really struck me because that’s kind of like the derivative of who I am.”
With Selfless Service as a guiding principle of Coast Guard personnel, Nicholas saw his opportunity to participate in the game-day flyover as an honor to represent one of A&M’s Core Values.
Nicholas was selected to participate in the game-day flyover by his captain in the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Corpus Christi, Charles Wilson.
Though viewed as an honor and bragging right among Aggie former students — the Corps of Cadets in particular — Nicholas remained humble and composed.
“I adore my twin,” Kate said. “He’s such a humble human being. At the moment, I think it didn’t even seem to faze him just because of how humble he is. It was just another day at work for him. It’s like a very proud moment for him, and I do know that he was just over the moon. He’s a very stoic person, and he will not let you know how excited he is and sometimes it’s hard to gauge how he really feels about something, but I know for him, that was an exceptional moment, something he will take away for the rest of his life.”
Though Nicholas flew over a crowd erupting in cheers, he cherishes the moment he got to stand on Kyle Field during halftime.
“It’s a wild feeling,” Nicholas said. “If you asked me seven years ago if I would be doing a flyover for a game, I never would have thought of that idea. So when I got the opportunity to say yes to that, to be an aircraft commander in the three-man ship, it was super cool. … There’s so many aviators that come out of A&M across all the services and to be one of the Aggies that gets to stand on the field and show your unit or say, ‘I graduated from here’ is super special.”
This story was originally published on The Battalion on October 8, 2025.
