SMA (R) Robert E. Hall
11th Sergeant Major of the U.S. Army (Retired)
February 1968 – June 2000
Sergeant Major of the Army (Retired) Hall was born in Gaffney, South Carolina, on May 31, 1947. He entered the United States Army in February 1968 and attended Basic Training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Bliss, Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in management from Park College in Parkville, Missouri.
Throughout his 32-year career, SMA Hall held every key leadership position including: Squad Leader, 2nd Infantry Division, Korea; Platoon Sergeant, battalion operations Sergeant and battalion intelligence Sergeant, 1st Armored Division, Germany; First Sergeant, B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 59th Air Defense Artillery, Germany; and Drill Sergeant, Fort Bliss, Texas. His military education includes Drill Sergeant School, Advanced Noncommissioned Officers Course, First Sergeants Course, and the Sergeants Major Academy, where he served as an instructor upon graduation from class 26. He also served on the staff of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia. His experience and expertise distinguished him as the 1979 Army Drill Sergeant of the Year and selection and induction into the prestigious Sergeant Morales Club and the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club.
SMA (R) Hall held a variety of senior Noncommissioned officer positions culminating in his assignment as the Sergeant Major of the Army. He previously held the senior enlisted position as command sergeant major of the United States Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. Other assignments he held as Command Sergeant Major were: the 1st Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery, Fort Stewart, Georgia; Commandant, 24th Infantry Division Noncommissioned Officer Academy, Fort Stewart; and the 24th Division Artillery, Saudi Arabia and Iraq; the 2nd Infantry Division, Korea; and First United States Army, Fort Meade, Maryland. SMA Hall was chosen out of 5 finalists, to be the 10th Sergeant Major of the Army.
His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Former SMA Robert E. Hall 8 Meritorious Service Medal with five oak leaf clusters, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with four oak leaf clusters, the Army Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster, tenth award of the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal with bronze star, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal with two bronze stars, the Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with numeral 4, the Army Service ribbon, the Overseas Service ribbon with numeral 3, the Kuwait Liberation Medal, the Department of the Army Staff Identification Badge and Drill Sergeant Identification Badge.