Nashville, Tenn. — Airman First Class Cody Rager, a security forces defender with the 118th Wing, was awarded the Louis H. Fischer Award during his graduation ceremony for Apprentice Course U.S. Air Force Security Forces Academy Jan. 30, 2018 at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
The Louis H. Fischer Award is awarded to a security forces member who’s GPA is in the 97 percent, has received zero derogatory paperwork, passed all evaluations on the first attempt, earned marksmanship or “expert” with the M9 pistol, and be recommended by an instructor cadre and military training leaders.
Due to the high standards of this award it is a rarity for an Airman to receive. Technical Sergeant Tyler Torr, an instructor supervisor with the 343rd Training Squadron, said in the three and half years he has trained 1,800 new Airmen and only five have received this award.
Rager had no idea the award even existed until his graduation.
“They started talking about the Louis Fischer award and none of us really knew what that was and then that’s when they called my name for that,” said Rager. “Even at the time I still didn’t fully understand what is was so I had to ask my instructor what I had to do to qualify for it.”
Rager contributes his success to being open to instruction, studying hard and the support he received from his wife.
“He was trying to get into the police academy but that didn’t work out,” said Taylor. “With my sister in [the National Guard] I was like have you thought about the military and that’s when he had said he wanted to join out of high school.”
“Her supporting me definitely helped pushed me through everything,” said Rager. “There were days I do not want to get up, I just wanted to sleep in and do whatever. She would say you’ve made it this far, you’re doing well, you’re grades are good just keeping pushing through. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Taylor knew she needed to be strong for Rager and help him not only get through his classes but excel to the best of his ability.
“I kept saying you’re not just surviving you’re thriving,” said Taylor, “If he was just surviving he wouldn’t have excelled like he did.”
Rager feels like receiving this award was worth going through the stress of training, being away from home and thrown into a military world he knew nothing about.
“During Basic [Training] I got honor graduate and she was really encouraging of that saying ‘See this is all paying off your doing so much better then you expected,’” said Rager, “Then with getting that award she was even more encouraging with everything and just made all the struggling worth it to exceed both of our expectations.”
Rager’s wife was not the only one to see his unique qualities as not only an Airman but a security forces defender.
“A1C Rager as a student was an exceptional performer that exemplified the Air Force Core Values consistently throughout training,” said Torr. “He is the type of Airman that we as instructors were enthusiastic to teach and proud to send out into the Security Forces career field to do great things.”
By Staff Sgt. Caitlin Conner, 118th Wing / Published March 03, 2018
Airman First Class Cody Rager, a security forces defender from the 118th Wing, poses with his wife Taylor to show support during all the hard time away from family. Due to the support received by his wife Rager was the receipent of the very rare Louis H. Fischer award when graduating Securty Forces Apprentice training. (U.S. Air National Guard Photo by Staff Sgt. Caitlin Conner)
