Army Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Wilson completed mobilization training and activated for duty in preparation for a deployment overseas to support the mission of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The soldier, along with other members of the 130th Field Artillery Brigade of the Kansas Army National Guard based in Topeka, completed the rigorous training at Fort McCoy in Sparta, Wis. The guard members inhabited realistic training facilities to complete individual focus training in pistol and rifle weapons qualification, and collective unit training involving a ground assault convoy live-fire exercise and an urban assault operations course.

Members of the 130th unit are highly specialized with many military job specialties and knowledge needed to support its mission of protecting their forces.

Wilson, a 1979 Tonganoxie High School graduate, is an operation sergeant with 26 years of military service. He is the son of Joan Saladin, Tonganoxie.

¢ Army Spec. Aaron K. Story has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C.

During the nine weeks of training, the soldier studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness, and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches and field training exercises.

Story, a 2000 Baldwin High School graduate, is the son of Donna Story, Ottawa, and the grandson of Letha Story, Baldwin.