James B. Hickey (born October 1, 1960) is a retired U.S. Army colonel. On December 13, 2003, he led Operation Red Dawn, the U.S. military effort that captured Saddam Hussein near Tikrit, Iraq. Military career Hickey attended St. Laurence High School in Burbank, Illinois, and is a 1982 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. On December 13, 2003, Colonel Hickey led the raid entitled "Operation Red Dawn" that captured Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, Iraq. After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute, Hickey was commissioned into the U.S. Army in 1982. His first assignment was with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in Schweinfurt, Germany, where he served as a cavalry platoon leader, troop executive officer and squadron adjutant from 1982 to 1985. Then-Captain Hickey attended the Infantry Officer's Advance Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and then returned to Germany in 1986. Thereafter he took command of L Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment "Blackhorse" in Bad Hersfeld. After command, Captain Hickey's next assignments were part of his secondary career field, Foreign Area Officer (Russian linguist) and included the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (master's of international public policy) and the U.S. Army's Russian Institute in Garmisch, Germany. Lieutenant Colonel Hickey was selected to command 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in 1999 at Fort Carson, Colorado, after four years at the Army's premier combat training center at Fort Irwin, California. Lieutenant Colonel Hickey commanded the squadron through operational and training deployments in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the U.S. Army's most challenging combined arms training centers. In April 2003, after attending Georgetown University as a U.S. Army Senior Service College Fellow, Colonel Hickey deployed to Iraq to work at the Headquarters of the 4th Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On June 13, 2003 he took command of 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) and led the brigade through a year of combat operations in Saladin Province. Colonel Hickey, supported by Special Operations units, led the raid that captured Saddam Hussein on 13 December 2003. For this and recognized combat effectiveness, the "Raider Brigade" was recognized by the Secretary of the Army with the Valorous Unit Award. After brigade command Colonel Hickey performed joint staff duties at the Institute of Defense Analysis in Alexandria, Virginia. During this assignment he performed sensitive intelligence analysis which led to his reassignment to the Iraq Theatre of