Benton grad completes Marine basic training

Marine Corps Pvt. Anthony L. Parker, a 2003 graduate of Thomas W. Kelly High School in Benton, Mo., recently completed 12 weeks of basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif.

Parker and fellow recruits began their training at 5 a.m. by running three miles and performing calisthenics. In addition to the physical conditioning program, Parker spent numerous hours in classroom and field assignments which included learning first aid, uniform regulations, combat water survival, marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat and assorted weapons training. They performed close order drill and operated as a small infantry unit during field training.

Jackson grad guarding prisoners in Tikrit

Pvt. Travis Rainey is stationed in Tikrit, Iraq, with the 4th Infantry Military Police Co. His duties include night raids and guarding prisoners. He is assigned to guarding people such as Donald Rumsfeld and Dan Rather.

Rainey is a 2002 Jackson High School graduate. He is the son of Jo Ann Rainey and the late Phillip Rainey; grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Shirley Wayne Lindsay of Cape Girardeau and the late Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Rainey.

Sister of Chaffee resident lends hand in Bahrain

As the U.S. military rebuilds Iraq, sailors of Commander Task Force 53 stand by to receive and process all logistical requirements for the entire Middle Eastern region. Lt. Cmdr. Virginia Vessels is among this group of sailors that is working hard to return order to Iraq.

Vessels, sister of Delores Nation of Chaffee, Mo., and a 1969 graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau, works as a logistics planning officer.

"Learning the volume of information in relation to the job was the biggest challenge my unit and I had to face," she said.

Vessels said recent operations placed a higher demand on the unit, significantly impacting its daily mission.

"Our days were 16 hours long. Now they are shorter, being only 10 hours long. The pace of things has dropped tremendously since the end of the war," she said.

After a hard day's work, Vessels enjoys shopping. She said that since living in Bahrain, she has become aware of how helpful the locals were in making sure the military has what it needs.

Like many of her fellow sailors, Vessels often thinks about home and the first things she wants to do when she returns.

"I miss my family, especially my husband and dogs," Vessels said. "When I get home, I am going to hug my husband and pet my dogs."

-- From staff reports