Members of the U.S. Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll police force stand for a photo before the promotion of Chief Thomas Prim March 25, 2023.
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Newly promoted Kwajalein Police Chief Thomas Prim, left, gets his badge adjusted March 25, 2023, by his wife Jenny and son Philip, on U.S. Army Garrsion-Kwajalein Atoll.
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The second tour on Kwajalein proved to be the charm, as U.S. Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll gains a new police chief.
Chief Thomas Prim was recently promoted in a ceremony with family, friends and coworkers in attendance.
Prim was a patrol sergeant on Kwajalein from May 2017 to May 2019. He supported Fort Wainwright, Alaska, as a supervisory police officer before returning to Kwajalein in July 2022 to fulfill that role.
“Starting out early in my career in the Army, I worked hard, and to see it all come together with this promotion means a lot,” said Prim.
Prim comes from a long line of law enforcement. “My uncle worked in the Sheriff’s Department in the county we lived in and became the chief of police in the city I grew up in, Jacksboro, Tennessee. My father worked in the Sheriff’s Department as well.”
Prim joined the Army and served in the Military Police Corps. He served in the Army from 1993 until 2016, with many roles in law enforcement: certified customs inspector, protective services detail, traffic accident investigations and served as the noncommissioned officer in charge of a traffic section, trained in physical security, anti-terrorism, K-9, and served as a kennel master and dog handler for explosives and narcotics dogs.
Prim’s wife, Jenny, and his sons Felix, a high school junior, and Philip, a sixth grader, helped promote Prim to the rank of chief.
The chief said he told his family about the opportunity to return to Kwajalein while in Alaska.
“We were all open to the chance to be able to come back and be a part of the community again,” he said.
