In this weekend’s edition of the LaGrange Daily News, we wrote about LaGrange native and Air Force Capt. Julian Gluck, who was recently named Airman of the Year.

Gluck lived in LaGrange from when he was in fifth grade through graduating at LaGrange High School in 2008. He then attended the Air Force Academy, and became a bomber pilot after his commissioning.

Gluck has served two deployments. He participated in Operation Inherent Resolve in the liberation of Mosul in Iraq and Al Raqqah in Syria, and Operation Freedoms’ Sentinel in Afghanistan.

He also did a six-month deployment in Guam for the Indo-Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence mandate, and has also been to Japan and learned the language as part of the Language Enabled Airman Program.

Stationed in Shreveport, Louisiana, Gluck also spends his time volunteering with the Catholic fraternal organization, Knights of Columbus. He even serves on the boards at state level in Louisiana and on the international level.

It’s remarkable to have someone from the city of LaGrange to reach such distinction. While LaGrange has many accomplishments, having a service member from the city be nationally recognized is a big deal for the community.

According to Governing the States and Localities website, Governing.com, more than 1.3 million people are serving active duty. About 184,000 serve in the Air Force, and about 8,248 of those are from Georgia.

While not everyone can be their branches service members of the year, it is a small chance to be named one. We are proud of Gluck and would like to thank him for his service.