{"id":20240,"date":"2018-05-11T15:18:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T15:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.onehat.io\/b\/?p=20240"},"modified":"2023-10-29T15:04:05","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T22:04:05","slug":"michael-thomas-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/blog\/michael-thomas-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the Sky In Style: Michael Thomas\u2019 Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photo credit (above): Lori Eyler<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Skydive Perris, we\u2019re lucky to have a pretty darned amazing<\/i> community. You probably already know that lots<\/i> of household-names-in-skydiving call Perris home. Today, though, we want to introduce you to one of our favorite local sport jumpers: Michael Thomas, a gentlesir with a simply amazing life story who rejoined the sport after a forty-year absence. The best part: if you\u2019re thinking about making a skydive for the first time, he has an invitation for you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026But we\u2019re getting ahead of ourselves. Here\u2019s Michael\u2019s story, in his own words. (Get ready to be amazed!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did my first jump in November of 1973. I was a student back then, going to what was called Southwest Texas State University at the time. (It\u2019s Texas State University now.) There was a dropzone nearby in the town of San Marcos. Some buddies of mine and I decided that we wanted to go check it out. I did a static line jump. I really took to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When my dad found out that I was skydiving, he wasn\u2019t too thrilled about it, since he was paying for my education. He told me, \u201cSon, if you\u2019re going to be doing that, then you\u2019re on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told the dropzone owner, an active-duty First Sergeant who had retired from the Golden Knights, what was going on. To solve my problem, I told him I was going to enlist in the Air Force. He thought I was out of my mind, but he told me about this Dental Laboratory Prosthetic Technician school that he knew about at Fort Sam. The Army was going to be discontinuing the program, but they had two slots left, and he wanted me to have one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gave me some inside information. He told me that the recruiters there would try to get me to go to combat arms or fill some other slot, and that when they did, I needed to say, \u2018No, thank you very much,\u2019 to which they\u2019d reply, \u2018Well, we can\u2019t help you then.\u2019 He told me not to get upset \u2014 just to bide my time. He told me that, a couple days later, they\u2019d call me back to tell me that a slot had suddenly opened. And that\u2019s exactly what happened. I made a pretty decent career out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I put on my wishlist where I wanted to get transferred after I got out of school. I put down California solely because of the skydiving. I\u2019d been watching what they were doing in Perris even back then \u2014 pouring over Parachutist magazine \u2014 and I wanted to be part of it. I knew about Perris from day one. Perris had a reputation. It was a mecca back in the \u201970s when I first started jumping. The military is notorious for not honoring your wish list, but somehow, I got lucky. I got my first pick on the list: California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then I got married. My girlfriend then \u2014 now my wife; we\u2019re still married \u2014 was supportive. When we were dating, she would go to dropzones with me. She even saw my first malfunction \u2014 in an airshow, no less. But life got in the way. Skydiving was an expensive hobby. My priorities changed and I kinda drifted away from the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skydivers tend to have a higher stimulation level, I think. We need to be in the mix \u2014 doing something. My professional life suited that part of my personality. First, I was a Vocational Training Instructor at the Federal Penitentiary in Lompoc. I\u2019ve got a book\u2019s worth of stories from when I was there. I was on the Special Operations Response Team. We had a lot of high profile inmates there. I got to meet Manuel Noriega.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was in the National Guard, too. I was deployed to Iraq in 2003. We got ambushed on November 2nd of that year, outside of Baghdad. We got blown up pretty good. I was slammed against a truck and cracked a vertebra in my neck. I wound up getting my spine fused all the way from C2 to C7. It sounds bad, but I\u2019m okay. I have close to full mobility and I don\u2019t have any pain. After that injury, I was awarded 100% disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At any rate, I was out of the sport of skydiving for about 40 years. I always wanted to get back in it, but I could never really find the time or the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n