Army G–1
Leader Biography
SGM Thomas S. Gills
Deputy Chief of Staff Personnel G–1 SGM
SGM Thomas S. Gills enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1983. Over the last 26 years, SGM Gills has been stationed in various locations around the Continental United States, as well as in Germany, Hawaii, Alaska and Afghanistan. He currently serves in Washington, DC as the Army G-1 SGM.
SGM Gills has served in nearly every leadership position in the Human Resources Management career field. He has served as a Basic Training Drill Sergeant, Drill Sergeant leader at the Fort Jackson School, and as the First Sergeant for the largest Infantry Company in the Army at the time, the 172d Infantry Brigade HHC, in Fairbanks, Alaska. He also performed as the DCSOPS SGM for HRC-Alexandria, as Executive Officer to SMA Kenneth Preston on the Army Staff, as well as the Command Sergeant Major of the Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan. He additionally served as the Chief of Enlisted Promotions.
SGM Gills’ awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal and the Audie Murphy Medal. He has attended all of the requisite NCOES schooling, as well as functional courses to include Air Assault School, the Master Fitness Trainer Course and the Force Management Course. He graduated Excelsior College Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, and earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration at Troy University, Suma Cum Laude. SGM Gills is a member of Pi Alpha Alpha, the Public Administrator’s National Honor Society, and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the American Military University.
SGM Gills is married to the former Laurie Palner of Pennsauken, NJ, has two children, and resides in Northern Virginia.