General Motors celebrates 50th cohort of Shifting Gears at Fort Hood

Yesterday, representatives from General Motors were onsite at Fort Hood to celebrate the 50th cohort of the Shifting Gears Automotive Technical Program, which has trained nearly 750 former soldiers for a career as an automotive technician and has helped more than 700 military families.  

The graduation event honored some of the high performers from the program, including Chris Hall who completed his General Motors World Class Technician certification – one of approximately 2,000 technicians in total who has earned this distinction, and he did it while fighting and recovering from lymphoma cancer.

I’ve included Chris’ personal story and more information about the Shifting Gears program below.

Photos from the graduation event are attached and more are available – if you are interested in interviewing Chris or someone from GM about Shifting Gears, please let me know.  

Chris’ Story

Chris Hall, Staff Sergeant (SSG), Bradley fighting vehicle system maintainer, spent 20+ years in the military serving in both Iraq and Kuwait. He graduated from the Shifting Gears program in 2017 and is now employed at All American Chevrolet in Midland, Texas.  As he worked through training to achieve his career goal of becoming a World Class Technician – which requires a technician to pass at least 8 Master Technician Certifications – he was diagnosed with cancer.

However, with the support of his employer, he continued to work through six months of treatment, which he says helped to keep his mind off of the struggles he was facing.

“I love the complexity of vehicles and the challenge of diagnosing issues,” said Hall. “This career allows me to continually learn because vehicles are continually advancing technologically and the mentorship of my colleagues at the dealership.”

Fortunately, Chris has been in remission since June of 2022 and achieved his dream of becoming a World Class Technician in February of this year.