Army Reserve Pvt. Destany A. Pearson has graduated from the Water Treatment Specialist Advanced Individual Training course at Fort Lee, Petersburg, Va.

The course is designed to train students to perform installation and operation of water purification equipment, and water storage and distribution operations and activities. Specialists duties include assisting in water reconnaissance, site preparation, and the setup of a water treatment activity; receive, issue and store potable water, perform water quality analysis testing and verification; analyze food and water samples to ensure quality, and conduct health and safety investigations of living quarters and base facilities; provide training on industrial hygiene, environmental health and occupational health issues, and monitoring noise and radiation levels at job sites.

She is the daughter of Deloris Hart and granddaughter of Beatrice Hart of Ellis Hart Road, Poplarville, Miss.

Her father and stepmother, Frank and Jennifer Pearson, reside on White Sand Road, Poplarville.

Pearson is a 2006 graduate of Poplarville High School.

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Cefalu deployed to Iraq

Army Sgt. Anthony M. Cefalu Sr. has deployed to the Iraqi theater of operations to support the mission of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The soldier is a member of the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry, the “Black Lions”, 4th Infantry Combat Brigade, 1st Infantry Division based at Fort Riley, Junction City, Kan. The Black Lions, activated in 2006, are one of the Army’s newest modular infantry brigade combat teams. In preparation toward the Black Lions’ deployment to a combat environment, the battalion soldiers completed a demanding four-week collective training density at Fort Irwin, Calif.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is the official name given to military operations involving members of the U.S. armed forces and coalition forces participating in efforts to free and secure Iraq. Mission objectives focus on force protection, peacekeeping, stabilization, security and counter-insurgency operations as the Iraqi transitional governing bodies assume full sovereign powers to govern the peoples of Iraq.

Members from all branches of the U.S. military and multinational forces are also assisting in rebuilding Iraq’s economic and governmental infrastructure, and training and preparing Iraqi military and security forces to assume full authority and responsibility in defending and preserving Iraq’s sovereignty and independence as a democracy.

Cefalu is a team leader with more than five years of military service.

He is the son of Steve M. and Waynette M. Cefalu of Picayune.

His wife, April, is the daughter of Bobby and Marilynn Kelly of Carriere.

The sergeant is a 2000 graduate of Picayune Memorial High School.