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To serve his country

To serve his country To serve his country

Cleveland grad appointed to Air Force Academy in Colorado

Tyler Holcomb, town of Cleveland, has been selected to attend the United States Air Force Academy starting in June–the first Stratford High graduate in memory to receive such a prestigious appointment.

This past year, Holcomb received congressional nominations from Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) to attend either the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. or the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

He told the congressmen, however, that his top priority was to become a pilot in the Air Force.

He received a personal phone call from Minocqua congressman Tiffany to congratulate him on his appointment to the Air Force Academy. He also received a letter in the mail from Department of the Air Force superintendent, Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, to announce his appointment to the United States Air Force Academy as a member of the Class of 2025.

“It’s a really big honor to be appointed into the Air Force Academy because the acceptance rate is only 11 percent for those who apply,” Holcomb said on Monday night at his town of Cleveland home southeast of Stratford. “Tom Tiffany called me to tell me he nominated me and I got accepted into the Air Force Academy. He told me to serve our country well. During this whole process, God directed my path toward attending the Air Force Academy because it’s what He wanted me to do.”

Holcomb finished his Stratford High School coursework in January and will attend the commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 22, at Tigers Stadium. He is one of five salutatorians in the Stratford High School Class of 2021.

Holcomb will next report to the United States Air Force Academy on Thursday, June 24, to begin six weeks of basic training. He’ll be a cadet while he earns his undergraduate degree at the Air Force Academy. After he graduates in 2025, he’ll become an officer in the Air Force.

“There is a shortage of Air Force pilots, so I was told they might keep me as a pilot for up to 10 years,” Holcomb said.

He said the Air Force Academy considers a person’s intelligence, fitness and leadership in the community in determining who’ll receive an appointment to attend school there. He has a cumulative high school Grade Point Average of 3.99. He passed a fitness test administered at Stratford High School and he’s involved in the Community Bible Church in Stratford. He also was a member of the Stratford High School National Honor Society and FFA and captain of the Stratford varsity cross country team last fall.

“Coach Kevin (Michalski) had us run five to six miles each day at practice during the cross country season, so running one mile for the fitness test to get into the Air Force Academy was like running a sprint for me,” Tyler Holcomb said. “I finished running the mile one minute quicker than the time required to pass the fitness test.”

Holcomb took a lot of high school dual credit classes through Northcentral Technical College in Wausau and AP classes through UW-Stevens Point at Wausau, which allowed him to finish high school early. This gives him time to train for the military while also working on his family’s town of Cleveland bison ranch and at Kingdom Haven in Edgar.

His parents are Rob and Tanya Holcomb and he has a sister, Lauren Holcomb, who is a sophomore attending home school.

Holcomb’s late grandfather, Tommy Bell, served in the United States Marines.

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