12/11/2021
At Lights For Our Cause, there are few things we take more pride in than giving back... especially when it’s for a Veteran so deserving.
We are proud to announce this year, we have selected SSG Jeffrey L Pickard, Ret. as our Veteran of Honor. Having served 15.5 years in the military, with combined service experience including 10 years in the Navy and 5.5 years in the Army. He served in Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In 2010, while deployed to Kirkuk, Iraq he was wounded. SSG Pickard was shot by a sniper with a 7.62 armor piercing round. It severed his Brachial Plexus bundle, Radial and Rotator nerves in his left shoulder/arm (dominant arm). He was medically evacuated to Walter Reed, where he spent 6 months getting therapy. SSG Pickard then returned to his duty station, Fort Leonard Wood, MO., to continue his therapy. He lost all movement and feeling for 3 yrs. To date, he is about 75%, “best case of a worst-case scenario.”
SSG Pickard received a Purple Heart for the injuries sustained and medically retired in 2013.
After moving from CA to TX in 2018, He runs a chapter of the WAVES Project in Texas, which is all volunteer. They teach wounded veterans and a buddy to scuba dive for free.
He is passionate about continuing to serve in the Veteran community and we could not be prouder to support SSG Jeffrey L Pickard, as well as all the Veterans in our community!
