Scholarship to Cedar Key Grad

Two months after graduation from Cedar Key High School as valedictorian of the Class of 2005, Zac Hollifield was graduated a second time at Fort Knox, KY. Hollifield has just completed a very intensive leadership training program in preparation for entry next month in Marion Military Academy in Marion AL.

Zac Hollifield

One hundred ninety young people, including about twenty-five young women, joined Hollifield in physical conditioning, marksmanship training, water survival exercises, tactical training and simulated combat for four week under the guidance of US Army drill sergeants. Hollifield was impressed by the demands and vocabulary of his drill sergeant. He said that the food was good and in carefully measured amounts, provided at regular intervals throughout sixteen hour days of training. All but nine trainees finished the four week program.

Tests of personal discipline and leadership ability characterized the program. Perhaps the greatest discipline was required as each trainee jumped blindfolded from a high diving board into twelve feet of water while wearing full battle gear and carrying a rifle. The next step was to shed the equipment before returning to the surface. (Poor swimmers were identified in advance of the test.) Squad and platoon leadership was rotated, and each trainee was graded on leadership in addition to performance on obstacle courses and other individual skills.

Hollifield has received a full scholarship to the Marion Military Academy. His goal is to move on to the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, and an eventual career as an army officer. Hollifield is he son of Bruce and Mary Marshall of Cedar Key. Bruce, having served for twenty years as a helicopter pilot in the US Army, can no doubt help his son prepare for his chosen career.