YPG NCO shows leadership in action

In a career that spans 26 years, Sgt. 1st Class Larry Thompson has served around the world, including two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan, experiences that have given him an invaluable sense of leadership while maintaining a positive attitude.

As a senior noncommissioned officer (NCO) at Yuma Proving Ground, Thompson strives to impart these values to his subordinates.

“I enjoy doing what I do,” he explained. “I've trained and mentored a lot of soldiers and will keep doing it as long as I have a chance. I'm all about sharing knowledge and helping someone to succeed.”

Thompson's leadership style is perfectly suited to a small unit responsible for a serious mission: ensuring that pallets laden with heavy, vital, expensive equipment are rigged properly, and that the parachute strapped to it or a soldier is packed with precision, whether it is by his own hands or those of a subordinate.

While YPG's testers need these pallets and parachutes for their important test and evaluation mission, soldiers overseas depend on airdrops for everything from the weapons they carry to the food they eat to the wood and concertina wire used to build a base.

In his lengthy career, Thompson has helped deliver all of these critical materials, in all kinds of locales.

A native of Nashville, Tenn., Thompson enlisted in the Army Reserve in 1983. He was assigned to a quartermaster company, conducted the first of more than 100 career static line jumps from a plane and after six years decided to enlist in the active Army.

“I liked the military,” Thompson said of his decision. “I felt I wasn't getting enough out of being in the reserves.”

Parachute rigging is a relatively small military occupational specialty (MOS), and Thompson was unable to secure a spot when he first enlisted in the regular Army. He was assigned to a Pershing Missile unit and was stationed in Germany when the Berlin Wall fell.

The reunification of Germany and the collapse of communism resulted in both his unit and MOS being deactivated, and he was reassigned to parachute rigging. In 1991, there were two slots available: He chose the one at Yuma Proving Ground.

“I like the YPG atmosphere. I was hooked when I came here. I like the weather, too."

Thompson carried these memories with him to his next duty station in Vicenza, Italy, where he supported operations in the Balkans throughout the 1990s.

He deployed with Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division to Kuwait and Iraq in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and four years later spent another Iraqi tour at Al Taqaddum Airbase. He was also the NCOIC of a logistics cell at Afghanistan's Bagram Airbase.

At Fort Lee, Va., his last station prior to returning to YPG, Thompson trained the next generation of Army parachute riggers, both as an instructor and through manuals he wrote.

As an NCO who has been in the service longer than some young recruits have been alive, Thompson is a natural mentor, even to individuals from posts he has departed. This counsel doesn't stop if the individual doesn't achieve his or her goal on the first try.

A recent example is a former subordinate who was disappointed when he attempted to enter the Special Forces and was not accepted. “I told him to keep striving to do what he wants to do and to stay in the service, because he is really sharp,” Thompson said.

Thompson identifies setting clear expectations as a critical facet of his leadership style and emphasizes the importance of maintaining unit morale.

“If there isn't a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose in the unit, discipline goes out the window."

He added that senior NCOs should show concern for the family lives of their subordinates, especially in times of frequent deployments overseas.

Thompson plans to spend at least one more year in uniform before retiring. His advice to future NCOs is to follow the simple philosophy that has guided his leadership.

“Tailor your leadership style to the way you would want to be led,” Thompson said. “Learn from your mistakes and your leaders' mistakes.”