(from his parents)
We are proud to say we have a son, US Army CPT. Robert M. Hicks currently serving in Kuwait. CPT. Hicks deployed to Kuwait the middle of January of this year. He is Commander of the 51 soldiers of Bravo Detachment, 18th Personnel Services Battalion home based at Fort Bragg, N.C.
CPT. Hicks is the son of Robert A. & Clara Hicks, grandson of Robert & Barbara Schmidt, and Merril & Joan Hawkins, all of Citrus Springs, FL. CPT. Hicks is a graduate of Woodbridge American H.S. in England. After high school, CPT. Hicks was awarded a U. S. Army R.O.T.C. scholarship to Florida State University. While attending FSU, CPT. Hicks completed the Air Assault course and earned the Air Assault Badge. Upon graduation, CPT. Hicks was commissioned as a 2LT Infantry Officer and attended Airborne school and earned his Airborne wings.
CPT. Hicks' first assignment was with the 101st Airborne at Ft. Campbell, KY. During his assignment with the 101st, he was sent to Saudi Arabia for six months tempory duty. During this time he earned the Expert Infantry Badge. CPT. Hicks' next assignment was to Korea where he served for 13 months with the Adjutant General Corps. After completing his tour in Korea, CPT. Hicks was transfered to Fort Bragg where he became the Commander of Bravo Detachment. CPT. Hicks comes from a family with deep military roots. Both of his grandfathers served in the U. S. Army, one for 30 years. He has an uncle who is retired from the U. S. Army, and his father retired from the U. S. Army. He continues what has become a family tradition of service to our country.
CPT. Hicks says "Being so far away from home, you start to loose that feeling that people actually care about what is happening over here. The young soldiers now understand the importance of supporting our Armed Services abroad and will ensure to continue this act of caring as they exit the service. As a soldier, it means everything to us to know that America is standing behind the troops."
To give you a little information about his unit, they have a total of 52 (counting CPT. Hicks) soldiers deployed in Kuwait with the mission of manifesting every member of the Armed Services into the country - whether they arrive by sea or air. By manifesting each member into the country; the entitlements for the soldiers begin, the seniors leaders know who is in country, and gives the ability to many organizations to track the current location of each soldier. They have the sole responsibility of acomplishing the mission in theater. Their unit is stationed out of Fort. Bragg, North Carolina - the home of the 18th Airborne Corps. There are not many facilities there at Camp Wolf. They have running showers, bathrooms, operational dining facility and a post office. The soldiers have the ability to drop off their dirty clothes to the laundry service, which takes five days to return your clothes. They do not have a PX on their camp, but they do have a mobile PX truck (a truck that comes once a week with snacks and basic hygiene items for soldiers to buy). They have a Morale Welfare Recreation (MRW) tent that has a TV for the soldiers to watch the news about the War on Iraq.
Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Hicks for this insightful accounting.
