Here are recent headlines about the military in Kansas:Fort Leavenworth(LJWorld.com) Kansas sergeant laid to rest:Friends and family gathered Thursday to pay tribute to a Leavenworth man described as another of America’s fallen heroes during a graveside service at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery. Sgt. Courtney Dean Finch’s loved ones said goodbye in a traditional ceremony, complete with a gun salute. A bugle call resonated over the crowd as family members and friends wept and comforted one other. Finch, 27, died July 24 in Qayyarah, Iraq. He died from an unknown noncombat cause, and an investigation is under way.(Fort Leavenworth Lamp) Local aviator competes in The Great Air Race:For a 13-day stretch, one of Fort Leavenworth’s own will embark on a journey to the farthest corners of the contiguous United States. Billy Summers, manager and instructor for Fort Leavenworth Flying Activity, will race against 54 other planes in The Great Air Race, a competition that will be filmed for release as a television series in the future. “They’re going to make 13 episodes out of it – kind of like Survivor but no one gets kicked out,” Summers said.A total of 55 planes will take part in the race – one from each state and one each from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, the Caribbean and the Virgin Islands. The race starts Aug. 5 and ends Aug. 17.(Fort Leavenworth Lamp) Center focuses on security force assistance: One corporation’s popular slogan is “We don’t make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.” This saying also aptly describes the functions of the Joint Center for International Security Force Assistance, said employees who work there. JCISFA is a new tenant unit on Fort Leavenworth that was established 16 months ago by the secretary of Defense. The centers collects, derives and disseminates best practices for international security force assistance throughout the Department of Defense and the U.S. government. “I think that we (JCISFA) are now really starting to be recognized as the place to go to understand how to influence host nations, and what skills advisors need,” said Master Sgt. Michael Beemer, a Special Operations Forces security specialist at JCISFA.