Photo By 1st Lt. Melody Daniel | North Little Rock, Ark. - Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Stanley Hicks is inducted into...... read more read more
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A North Little Rock, Ark., resident is the state’s fourth inductee into the Arkansas National Guard’s Enlisted Hall of Fame.
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Stanley D. Hicks was inducted June 2, 2022, at Joint Force Headquarters on Camp Joseph T. Robinson in North Little Rock. He joined retired Chief Master Sgt. Richard Green, retired Chief Master Sgt. Normal Gilchrest and retired Command Sgt. Maj. Deborah Collins in the hall.
“Forty-three years is a long time to serve in the military,” said Maj. Gen. Kendall Penn, Arkansas’ adjutant general. “And we often talk about all the change that Sgt. Maj. Hicks must have seen during that course of time.”
Hicks didn’t just see change, though, he created it by advocating for and instituting professional development for the enlisted corps of the Arkansas National Guard.
“Sgt. Maj. Hicks implemented the changes that gave NCOs the skills that when they would go out and participate in those collective training events, they were able to sharpen, and then pass on to Soldiers,” the general said.
His legacy is that he’s called the “father of NCO professional development for the state of Arkansas,” according to his nomination package for induction.
Hicks enlisted in the Arkansas National Guard on March 6, 1950, with Co. B, 1-153 Infantry Regiment in Malvern, Ark. Throughout his nine-year stint in that unit, he served as an infantryman, assistant squad leader, squad leader, mortar section leader, and platoon sergeant.
In 1959, he transferred to Headquarters and Headquarters Co., 39th Infantry Division Support Command, where he served as an operations sergeant, first sergeant, and chief operations sergeant.
He was appointed state command sergeant major on April 1, 1975. On Oct. 1, 1978, he was named commandant of Arkansas’ newly authorized Noncommissioned Officers Academy. He was reappointed state command sergeant major on Oct. 31, 1985, making him the only person to have held that position twice. He held that position until he retired in June 1993.
His military medals include: the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal with one silver and one bronze oak leaf cluster, and the National Defense Service Medal.
| Date Taken: | 06.13.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 06.13.2022 15:22 |
| Story ID: | 422828 |
| Location: | NORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 167 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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