After weeks of training, Sgt. Tyler Holloway, part of the Wyoming National Guard’s 115th Field Artillery Brigade, was awarded as the 2022 National Guard Noncommissioned Officer of the Year on July 29th, 2022.
Fourteen of the best National Guard junior enlisted soldiers and noncommissioned officers from around the country participated in a six-day “Best Warrior Competition” in Tennessee from July 24th-29th, to determine which individual was the most impressive soldier in the Army National Guard.
“I was asked by my First Sergeant if I wanted to compete in this. I asked him what it was about, and he said, ‘you do a bunch of stuff. It really sucks. But you’d get to shoot and whatnot.’ And I’m all about that so I told him to sign me up,” said Holloway,
“I actually competed in 2021 as well. I didn’t make it past the state level, I got second place in the Non-commissioned Officer (NCO) category, and it put a bitter taste in my mouth. I knew I could do better. So, I came back this year and I think I did pretty well.”
Ever since he was a young boy, Holloway had always dreamed of being a part of the military. He described his mother retelling stories of him as a child digging foxholes in their backyard, pretending to be a soldier. He has been a part of the National Guard for nearly six years now and had recently returned from a deployment before he began competing for the Best Warrior title.
“I hate stagnation. At the time when we got back there wasn’t much going on and I decided that I needed to do something. I needed a challenge. I also wanted to do this because of school opportunities,” said Holloway,
“I’ve since been asked to go to a bunch of different schools like Ranger School, Airborne, Mountain School, and Air Assault School. I’m really blessed with how well I did in this competition.”
There were significant struggles that Holloway faced as he was competing. He had to persevere through the trials of the competition while running off of minimal food and sleep, both of which resulted in him feeling mentally and physically exhausted.
“Time management was hands down my biggest struggle. Just the short period of time between all of the competitions to get ready and to try to be your best and compete at your best level. That right there was a real killer,” said Holloway.
Making time in between competitions to prioritize mental health and wellbeing is difficult for most individuals who participate in these competitions. Holloway recounted his difficulty managing healthy coping mechanisms to get him through the competition.
“It sucked. Honestly, that was the big deciding factor of how you handle these competitions. We would be running on an hour of sleep, and they would tell us to get up and run three miles right then,” said Holloway,
“So, I’d sit there, I’d hit my can of Copenhagen, throw it in, and say, ‘all right, let’s go.’”
Holloway graduated from Sheridan College with associates degrees in Agriculture Science and Education prior to competing in the Best Warrior competition. He planned to enroll at the University of Wyoming this Spring, but because of new opportunities to attend various military schools, he has decided to prolong his admission to UW until the spring of 2024.
“Right now, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity in the National Guard to be able to go to these schools, so that’s what I’m going to do. And then as soon as I’m done with the schools, I’ll hop right back into going to college for my bachelor’s degree,” said Holloway.
Holloway hopes to attend UW in the future and is adamant about prioritizing a higher education.
“I really love agricultural science and education. I absolutely love the degree. I want to be a teacher when I get done,” said Holloway,
“I really just want to focus solely on that. Hopefully in 2024, I will be able to just divert wholly to that endeavor of getting my bachelor’s degree.”
