Humble Beginnings
SFC David D Hack was raised in rural Sunfish, Kentucky. Later, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky. David Hack joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1957 at the age of 17 and served four years. In 1964, he enlisted in the Army, volunteering for Ranger Training. He processed through the recruiter in Phoenix, AZ and then Fort Ord, CA, to the Ranger Department at Fort Benning, GA, fully believing he was on track for Ranger School training. Based on his prior service in the Coast Guard, he was immediately assigned to serve as a Harbor Craft Boatswain at the Ranger Department’s camp at Eglin Air Force Base, FL. He was a Ranger Instructor, now known as a Ranger Trainer. Taught small boats at the U.S. Army Ranger School: 6th Ranger Training Battalion.
Military
For 21 days a month for 2-years, while assigned to the Ranger Department, he supported over 20 Ranger School training cycles. SGT Hack loyally served on the Ranger Training Cadre preparing young Army Soldiers and officers for combat in Vietnam. The current 75th Ranger Regiment did not form until 1974, a full year after Sgt. Hack retired. Sgt. Hack was a member of the 1st Ranger Company from 1964 to 1966. Official Records are on file.
NOTE: SFC David D Hack did not go through Army Boot Camp based on his experience in the USCG.
SFC David D Hack later joined the 1st Infantry Division. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. He suffered injuries on two occasions, taking shrapnel to the leg, arm, face, back and side. The injuries caused him to spent a full year in a U.S. Army hospital in Fort Knox and was three years on medical hold. His combat injuries ultimately ended his military career.
The Department of the Army asked SFC Hack to be a recruiter. His assignment was the Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, and Tallmadge, Ohio area.
He gained nationwide recognition as a top Army recruiter. His distinctive recruiting tools, which included a “Sgt. Hack Wants You” T-shirt, a custom Army jeep, and a custom-painted Corvette, helped make SFC David D, Hack the United States’ No. 1 recruiter from 1969 to 1973. The jeep he used is on display at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of the 101st Airborne Division. GEN George S. Patton had the only other jeep ever to be enshrined in a U.S. military museum, Fort Knox.
Life after the military
In the years that followed his retirement from the Army, SFC Hack served in the Hudson Township Police Department and in the Summit County Sheriff’s Department. He finally ended his police career as the Sebring, Ohio, Chief of Police.
In 1986, he and his wife, Lani, founded U.S. Wings, a family-operated company in Boston Heights (Hudson), Ohio, which supplies bomber jackets and aviation gear to all branches of the armed forces.
SFC David D. Hack is a Life Member of the 101st Airborne Division, the 1st Infantry Division, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), and the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police. In 2011, he was formally presented with a Purple Heart, a Vietnam Service Medal, Army Recruiter Badge and other honors at a ceremony held by Ohio Congressman, Steven LaTourette.
For more information, please go to: www.sgthack.com