Duty and Honor

• Battery Creek High School JROTC cadet accepted into U.S. Naval Academy
  Looking sharp is important. So said 18-year-old Ronald Wayne when he described the goal of his senior JROTC color guard as they prepared to present colors at The Heritage Society of Beaufort's 20th annual luncheon held March 11 on Dataw Island.

• Senator focuses on better care for military
  James Webb, D-Va., a take-charge senator who inhis second year conceived and negotiated passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, made clear last week he will continue to influence issues that impact the lives of service members, retirees, reservists and their families.

• Military Honor for March 18
  • Air Force Airman Kourtney Nue recently graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio.

• Spinners join national fundraiser to help rehabilitate injured troops
  Thousands of patriotic citizens across the country spent Feb. 27 spinning their wheels for the armed forces.

• Vets: Don't wait to file Agent Orange health claims
  Tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans with ischemic heart disease, Parkinson's disease or B cell leukemia should file claims now with the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, not wait until Veterans Affairs publishes a regulation officially linking these diseases to wartime service.

• Military honors for March 11
  • Matthew Coleman was recently promoted to the rank of Colonel in the United States Army. Coleman is a 22-year Army veteran and a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is stationed at Headquarters European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, with his wife Col. Cheryl Harris. Coleman is the son of Ernest and Viola Coleman of St. Helena Island.

• Moss Creek Marines support fellow Leathernecks serving abroad
  For the past three years, a group of Hilton Head Island residents have embodied the idea that once you're a Marine, you're always a Marine.

• Vets still unaware of benefits
  Despite billions of additional dollars pumped into veterans' benefits in recent years, many military personnel still leave service unaware of their Veterans Affairs benefits or of programs set up to help them transition to civilian life, a senior Defense Department official and veteran advocates testified last week.

• Military honors for March 4
  • Army National Guard Pfc. Chas Perry has graduated from Direct Fire Infantryman One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga. The training consists of basic combat training and advanced individual training.

• Drone pilots have a front-row seat on war, from half a world away
  From his apartment in Las Vegas, Sam Nelson drove to work through the desert along wind-whipped Highway 95 toward Indian Springs. Along the way, he tuned in to XM radio and tried to put aside the distractions of daily life -- bills, rent, laundry -- and get ready for work.