FORT CAMPBELL - Finding the time to balance your professional career and your personal life is not always an easy task.
Over time, one 11-year Army veteran acquired skills to balance his wood-working hobby and outstanding leadership capabilities to train and mentor younger Soldiers.
Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Hix, a Springfield, Tenn. native, and his wife, Katrina of Oshkosh, Wash., make custom wood pieces for Soldiers who have earned promotion or received permanent change of station orders and also for families of military members who have passed away.
“It was about two years ago when Jeremiah started purchasing new equipment for our wood shop, and we started designing and creating products together,” Katrina said as she designed a personal project using their laser-engraver machine.
Hix and his wife have worked collectively for the last three years designing and producing custom woodwork for military members, family members and civilians; and, most of the time, they donate the projects they complete.
Noncommissioned officers have different leadership styles and mentoring techniques. A great NCO is one who inspires Soldiers to excel in their professional fields and as individuals.
Hix is a paralegal NCO assigned to 101st Division Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and is in charge of five Soldiers within the brigade legal section, all of whom he has motivated and trained according to each individuals’ needs.
“I love my shop, because it has come a long way since I got here three years ago,” said Sgt. Djaunae Lewis, a paralegal specialist assigned to 101st Special Troops Battalion, 101st Div. Sust. Bde originally from Mandeville, Jamaica. “I have had NCOs that were bad and NCOs that were good, and I was on the verge of getting out of the Army; but then Staff Sgt. Hix came along and he changed my mind, and I ended up re-enlisting.
“He helped me study for the promotion board, helped me to prepare and attend basic leader course, which overall helped me get promoted me to sergeant,” Lewis continued.
For Hix, being a great leader comes naturally. Upon graduating the Senior Leader Course at the Noncommissioned Officer Academy of the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Va., Hix had gained the respect of his peers throughout the duration of the course and earned the Distinguished Leadership Award.
The award barely scratches the surface of Hix’s selflessness and genuine leadership skills.
“The biggest part of the whole course that stuck out to me was an informal class that was taught between two classes,” Hix said, describing his biggest take-away during SLC. “It was about the willingness and ability of your Soldiers, how to motivate them to become willing if they are unwilling and the ability to train them if they are unable.”
Hix has impacted the lives of many Soldiers, peers and family members alike. Also, he helps inspire others.
“He has always believed I could do anything I set my mind to,” Katrina said. “He never pushed me to do anything I didn’t want to do, but it was that constant encouraging force that exploded it into a whole new world for me.”
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