ABOVE: Airman First Class Tyrell Zieske, left, and Cadet Tyson Geerdes, both 2020 Fairmont High School graduates, are currently both based at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

FAIRMONT– Memorial Day is a day to remember, mourn and give thanks to those before us who died while serving the country. While the nation reflects on the holiday today, the meaning of it for those currently serving hits close to home. Two young military members, Tyson Geerdes and Tyrell Zieske, both 2020 graduates of Fairmont High School, will spend the holiday at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

Geerdes is currently a cadet second-class, which marks the half-way point of his journey through the U.S. Air Force Academy.

“All of the college-equivalent schooling that we’re doing is going to continue to be at Colorado Springs, but we’ll have different opportunities to go out and shadow different air force bases,” Geerdes explained.

In fact, in the next few days, he’ll be going to Beale Air Force Base in California to shadow for a few weeks before he comes home for a portion of the summer.

Later this year Geerdes will figure out what his job will be after graduation. It will be based off his interests, academic and athletic performance as well as the needs of the Air Force. After four successful years at the academy, he’ll will be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.

So far, Geerdes expressed great satisfaction with the path he’s chosen for himself, which is one he’s has a long-time interest in. He said he’s thankful to experience a more normal year after his first year was greatly impacted by Covid.

One recent opportunity brought Geerdes in contact with fellow FHS grad and military personnel, Tyrell Zieske. The two spent their high school years as teammates on the robotics team and were in the same graduating class. Afterward they both entered into the military, just on different tracks.

After graduating, Zieske went through basic training at JBSA, which is an Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Then he went though a pre-selection course before going to Fairchild Air Force base in Washington. Now, Zieske is a SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance Escape) specialist.

He’s currently in an instructor role and is in Colorado Springs for the summer to do SERE training for the rising sophomore class of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

In explaining what he does, Zieske said he trains people for the day everyone hopes will never come, which includes scenarios with downed pilots and ambushed convoys.

“We give them skills to not only navigate and survive, but also to evade and if they are captured, how to resist interrogations,” Zieske said.

After he’s done in Colorado Springs, Zieske will go back to Fairchild Air Force base, which is the center for survival training.

While Zieske and Geerdes are both on very different schedules, they recently got to see each other for an evening and catch up.

The two young men made a commitment to the military and the importance of today’s holiday is not lost on either of them.

Geerdes stressed the urgency on keeping the focus on the importance of the day when it comes to Memorial Day.

“Memorial Day is not just another patriotic holiday. There’s Flag Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is special and specific not even for those who have made the commitment to their county and came back home, but those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country,” Geerdes said.