Jason joined the Navy in 2002 and left for boot camp 2 weeks after high school. He served his first 3 years as an ABF (fueler) on the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt and completed his first deployment in 2004 at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jason felt like he wanted to do more – be more engaged in the fight.
To accomplish this, Jason cross rated to Hospital Corpsman and served as an FMF Corpsmen for 4 years with 1st Battalion 6th Marines where he deployed to Ramadi, Iraq in 2005-06 and Garmsir, Afghanistan in 2007-08. Jason left the military in 2009. From 2015-to 2017, Jason took a job with Triple Canopy where he provided high threat personnel security to government agencies in Iraq.
In 2018, Jason partnered with Seth to form SPEAR. The goal was to fill a need on two different fronts. The first, to help federal, state, and local EMS during active natural disasters by utilizing the skills and training acquired while serving in the military.
“We want to perform rescues and provide medical treatment during active natural disasters.” – Jason Vazquez
Second, to provide an opportunity for veterans to be involved and apply their skills to a cause.
“Veterans hold a unique set of skills while in the service. Skills that allow us to operate in a high functioning capacity while in the middle of complete chaos. When veterans leave the service, they usually shelf these skills and pick up a new skill in order to find a job and be successful in the civilian sector. There are roughly 22 veteran suicides a day. Veterans leave the service and lose the sense of having a higher purpose than themselves. Those skills they’ve worked so hard to master no longer apply to life. A lot of vets feel used up and useless after their service. We want to give them that higher calling back and offer them the opportunity to pull those skills back off the shelf and apply them in situations that allow them to serve the American people once more when they are in a time of need.” – Jason Vazquez
Jason, like many other veterans still wants to serve this great nation.
“We started with hurricanes because Seth and I both have seen our communities destroyed by them. Seth living in Florida and me, with family and going through hurricanes myself, in Puerto Rico. We’ve seen them destroy the homes of our friends, family, and communities. We’ve watched people’s lives get ripped away. Most of all we’ve seen what happens to the people that don’t escape the storm. Whatever the reason, some people don’t make it out in time and get stuck in the storm. Local EMS is almost always stretched thin, or they are in cover themselves during this storm.” – Jason Vazquez
SPEAR’s goal is to change this. When there is a need, SPEAR wants to provide a group of motivated hard-charging veterans on their way out to extract, provide protection and the medical treatment needed until the storm is over.
For Jason, hurricanes are just the beginning. He wants SPEAR to assist in wildfires and earthquakes. In addition, Jason also hopes SPEAR can assist during tornadoes and severe storms.
“We would like to see a fully outfitted SPEAR team in every state as well as Guam and Puerto Rico. Then, we would like to go worldwide providing our services to countries in need like the earthquakes in Mexico City and Haiti as well as skyscraper fires in places like Dubai where not every building has a fire suppression system. We want people to know that when there is a natural disaster, or a mass casualty and you are reaching for help. SPEAR will be there to grab your hand and pull you to safety.” – Jason Vazquez