Jason Shick
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
Class of 1992
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Jason graduated from East Kentwood in 1992 and immediately enlisted into the United Statea Marine Corps as an infantryman. He spent 4 years in the Marine Corps and during this time he married his wife Amy in 1994.
After his time in the U.S Marine Corps, Jason attended college, coached the Oakland Bears Bantam A hockey team, and worked as an Equity Sales Trader in San Francisco, California. He graduated from Saint Mary’s College of California with a Bachelor's degree in 2003. Shortly after graduation Jason commissioned in the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry at Fort Benning, GA and went to Infantry Officer Basic Course, Ranger School,, and Airborne School. Jason’s first duty station as a 2nd Lieutenant was Ft. Lewis WA. Within 2 months of arriving at Fort Lewis in September of 2004 Jason deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom to Mosul Iraq as an Infantry Platoon Leader. He was the leader of a 46 Soldier platoon. Over the next 10 months Jason’s platoon executed 110 combat patrols, with over 40 conducted with Iraqi forces. Jason’s platoon acted as the main effort during the first free Iraqi Elections in over 40 years. His platoon is responsible for the raid and capture of 6 terrorists plotting an attack on polling stations during the elections. Jason successfully brought all, but one Soldier, home safely from this deployment. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and selected to take over leadership of the battalion’s premier Scout Platoon. Jason’s unit redeployed home to WA in October 2005, reflagged, and moved to Vilesck, Germany 7 months later. At this time Jason was selected to be the Executive Officer of the HHC Company. In July 2007, Jason deployed to Baghdad, Iraq for 15 months as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was promoted to Captain, served as battle captain and Assistant Operations Officer, planning missions and coordinated combat enablers to support units on the battlefield. Jason’s unit was redeployed back to Germany in October 2008. Just two months after returning home from deployment, Jason, his wife, and children moved back to Fort Benning, GA to attend the Maneuver Captain’s Career Course. After the course in July 2009, he and his family moved to Fort Polk, LA where he took command of the 150 Soldier Rifle Company, Alpha Company, 2-4 Infantry Battalion of the 10th Mountain Division. He trained his company to deploy for 11 months when he was suddenly pulled from this command and selected to command the Brigade’s Dismounted Reconnaissance Troop, Ghost Troop, an elite focused targeting force. He met Ghost Troop in training and deployed the unit to Afghanistan a few months later in October 2010 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Colonel Antonia, the brigade commander, described Jason’s Ghost Troop as, “the most disciplined and proficient, company-sized element I have ever seen operate. Jason is a combat leader with a can-do attitude. His men love him and will follow him anywhere.”, in response to their performance during the deployment. Ghost Troop, under Jason’s leadership, executed over 100 air assault missions across three providences. Jason successfully brought every single Soldier in Ghost Troop home safely after a gruesome and brutal deployment one year later in October 2011. Two months after Jason redeployed back to Fort Polk, LA, he and his family moved back to Fort Benning, GA where he was selected to teach at the Maneuver Captain’s Career Course. Within six months of the new position, Jason was promoted a year early to Major and selected to lead the team of Cadre as the Course Director. Later that month in July 2012 Jason also started an MBA Program at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He concurrently worked, attended the Army’s Command and General Staff College of the Army, and his MBA program. It was a challenging two years. |
The spring of 2014 Jason was selected to be the Battalion Executive Officer for 3-21 Infantry of an 800 Soldier Rifle Battalion. He and his family moved from Georgia to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska. He was in this position for only 6 months and was hand-picked by the Brigade Commander to be the Brigade Operations Officer for a 5,000 Soldier unit. During his first year in Alaska Jason played for the Army hockey team and coached the Army hockey team the following year. Jason also deployed the brigade as part of the U.S Pacific Command’s Pacific Pathways to Japan and Korea for 5 months.
In Spring of 2016 Jason was selected for the privileged assignment at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, FL. Jason worked as an expert to the MIddle East and became a Malone Fellow. He was selected to be the Executive Officer to the Deputy Director of Plans, Policy and Strategy for U.S. CENTCOM. In Spring of 2018 Jason was hand-picked by his former commander in Alaska to be the Brigade Operations Officer for a newly created specialized Army Unit called the Security Force Assistance Brigade. Jason and his family moved to Fort Bragg, NC in the summer of 2018. They formed, built, trained and deployed the SFAB in record time. Jason was promoted a year early to Lt. Colonel and deployed with the SFAB for 9 months to Afghanistan February 2019. Jason served as the Operations Officer for the Train, Advise, Assist, Command - East comprised of seven provinces in the north eastern portion of Afghanistan. The unit redeployed home December 2019. Jason has been selected to command the legendary 1-17 Infantry Battalion and will be moving to Fort Lewis this June 2020. Jason and Amy have been happily married for 25 years and they have three children, Maddie (18), Brady (16), and Riley (12). Maddie will be graduating from her 11th school this Spring and will be attending the University of Washington in the fall. Jason is truly a decorated leader in every sense of the word, his top military awards include 3 Bronze Star Medals, 1 Defense Meritorious Service Medal, 3 Meritorious Service Medals, 3 Army Commendation Medals, 1 Joint Service Achievement Medal, 2 Army Achievement Medals, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, Army Airborne Wings, Air Assault Badge, and the coveted Ranger Tab, |