Photo By Ana Henderson | Thomas Hall’s colleagues at Yuma Proving Ground celebrated his accomplishment with a...... read more read more
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Yuma Test Center at Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is proud to announce the induction of Thomas Hall into the U.S. Army Rigger Hall of Fame.
This prestigious honor has only been bestowed on 96 parachute riggers since its establishment in 1976.
Hall served 25 years in the U.S. Army as a parachute rigger and retired as a Command Sergeant Major with deployments to Desert Shield/Desert Storm and two tours in Iraq.
After retiring, Hall started a career at YPG as a parachute rigger for the Air Delivery Systems branch and now works as a test officer and test jumper. He’s been a rigger for 36 years and has jumped nearly 800 times from an aircraft.
On Feb. 26, 2024, Hall, his wife Diann, and their two daughters, who are also parachute riggers, one at YPG, traveled to Fort Gregg-Adams, Va. for the ceremony.
Hall said of receiving the award during the ceremony, “It was exciting and humbling all at the same time.”
During his induction speech he told the crowd, “As a young private back at, at the time, Fort Lee, going through parachute rigger school, one of my tasks was to clean the hall of fame, which at the time was the Quartermaster Parachute Warrant Officer Hall of Fame. I thought about how cool it was to be memorialized in the hall of fame.”
As a young private Hall had served under the two general officers and one colonel who were also inducted that day.
Now back at YPG, Hall’s colleagues celebrated his accomplishment with a luncheon on March 7, 2024.
During the luncheon Hall told the crowd which included Yuma Test Center Command Lt. Col. Shane Dering, Yuma Proving Ground Command Sergeant Maj. Mark Millare, and colleagues from the Airborne Test Force and the Air Delivery Systems branch, and his family, “I cannot tell you how humbled I am. It’s great to get recognition and it’s great to be put in the hall of fame, but when Soldiers and my coworkers and the leadership come around and actually talk, you’ll tear an old boy up. I just thank everybody,” said Hall with his voice cracking a bit.
Hall explained there are three facets to being an Army parachute rigger. Parachute pack, which packs all the personnel parachutes; Heavy pack and heavy drop, which rigs the heavy equipment loads and packs the heavy equipment parachutes; and maintenance, which maintains and does the sewing and repairs of air items and parachutes.
Hall has done them all throughout his career and said, “As a parachute rigger, that jumper puts their life in your hands and it’s your job to make sure their parachute functions and gets them to the ground safely.”
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.07.2024 17:34 |
| Story ID: | 465661 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 474 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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