The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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    Honored

December 25, 2008

Local airman wins state award

Airman 1st Class Tony Zerwas is natural leader

By Dan Linehan

MANKATO — About six months after Airman 1st Class Tony Zerwas finished training in the Air Force National Guard, he was named his squadron’s Honor Airman of the Year.

He moved up a step when his group picked him for the honor, then prepared for interviews before a group of non-commissioned officers at his St. Paul-based 133rd Airlift Wing to move to that level.

Zerwas, who recently moved to Mankato and hopes to attend school here, says he wasn’t nervous.

“I think job interviews are fun,” he said. “I’m weird like that. You get to talk about yourself and you get to talk about what you’ve accomplished.”

His enthusiasm may have helped, as he was named his wing’s airman of the year. And just a few weeks ago, he was named the Minnesota airman of the year. There are two air wings in Minnesota.

Now, he’s in the running for the Air Force National Guard’s national airman of the year.

Zerwas, 20, works in the Security Forces at the air wing, a role akin to a police officer.

T.J. Hall, a technical sergeant with the Air Force National Guard who supervises Zerwas, said “right from the get-go, he was headstrong on improving himself as well as the unit.”

Hall said airmen with as little military experience as Zerwas aren’t typically considered for the award.

But Zerwas’ pre-military job experience, his eagerness to volunteer and his pride in the service overcame his inexperience.

He’s been teaching the student flight program, which is nicknamed rookie ranks because it’s for enlistees who haven’t yet had basic training.

Zerwas also taught combat skills to more than 250 fellow soldiers this summer and fall. He calls joining the guard “the best choice I’ve ever made,” partly because it helped continue his family’s tradition of military service and partly because of the opportunities provided.

Zerwas took what could have been a one-weekend-a-month, two-weeks-a-year job and turned it into something more.

“There’s other opportunities for people to do more and he’s capitalized on that,” Hall said.

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