By Jim Bailey
Anchor / Managing Editor / WJHL
Published: January 11, 2010

By the looks of things Jason Hickman wanted to be a career soldier.  At age 35, after ten years in the military, he had risen to the rank of Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army, and had a chest filled with fruit salad, military slang for service ribbons.

You can tell a lot from what appears on a soldiers uniform.  SFC Hickman bore an Army Commendation Medal, with three Oak Leaf Clusters, meaning he had distinguished himself multiple times in the service of our country.  He also wore an Army Achievement Medal, which indicates exception achievement when not in a combat role.

SFC Hickman was a combat engineer, who also bore the parachute of an airborne qualified soldier.  He was attached to an Airborne Unit, the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division when he deployed to Afghanistan a little under a year ago. 

It wasn’t his first taste of combat.  He had already done a tour in Iraq, for which the wore the acquamarine blue Presidential Unit Citation.  It indicates service with a unit that has “been set apart and above other units participating in the same campaign in their display of gallantry, determination, and spirit de corps under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions to accomplish the mission.”

In short, SFC Hickman had proven he was a hero. 

But there is a lot the uniform can’t tell you.  The Kingsport Tennessee soldier also had a family that loved him, a wife and three young sons.  His father, J.D. Hickman told us tonight that his son “.. loved his kids the way that I loved him.“

Without doubt, SFC Hickman’s father and family were all eagerly anticipating his return from Afghanistan, at this point probably in just a few weeks. Monday they got the news they never wanted to hear.  SFC Jason Hickman, who had heroically served as a soldier, had died just as heroically.

He was in a Combat Outpost, Bowri Tana, when a vehicle loaded with explosives rushed the position and exploded amid a hail of small arms fire.  His father J.D. knew the risks, he is a Vietnam Veteran himself.  He also knew the reasons his son took the risks, “…he loved his country, and he died doing what he believed he was supposed to do.  And I am damn proud of him.“

Perhaps that’s all any of us need to know about Jason Hickman, and those who serve as he did; they are there for us, for our way of life.  We too, should be proud of them.