The Good Life – July-August 2020

ARMY VETERAN
country would rub off on his three children in the
years to come.
His son, Hunter, 22, recently completed his Army
contract while his 18-year-old daughter, Macie,
just finished her advanced training for the Army
National Guard combat medic school at Fort Sam
Houston in San Antonio, Texas.
"My daughter Macaila (Macie’s twin) would have
signed up in a heartbeat, but she
has some health problems,”
he explained. “It really hurt
her but she can serve in other
ways.”
Army Experience
Paved the Way
In the Army, rules, structure
and loyalty define your life.
"The one thing the military
really nails into people is
selfless service, guaranteeing
you're not always going to like
what you're doing, but you're
going to do it anyway because the
mission comes before yourself,”
explained Ray Pizarro, having
known Hicks for 21 years and
serving overseas together. “And
the mission is righteous.”
It was that mentality that Hicks
led with as an infantryman and
platoon sergeant during his
deployments to Germany – where
he was sent to the Persian Gulf War
– and Bosnia for a peacekeeping
mission in 2003.
"Jason never cared about his career more than
he cared about his men," Pizarro said. "He put us
before himself, meaning if bad news came down
the pipe and he had to pick a couple of volunteers
to go do something rotten, instead of picking two,
he'd pick one and do it with them.”
It was that unique style of leadership that allowed
Hicks to build both trust and rapport with his unit.
"There wasn't a single task that was ever
questioned,” Pizarro said. “People would line up,
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