Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 10-2-18

Local
Bay Area Native
Military
Completes Basic
Marie Wayers Celebrates Her 85th Birthday
Mrs. Marie Wayers started the celebration of her 85th birthday with a home service held at the family’s Brandon home.
Afterwards, the family journeyed to a Harbor Island restaurant for her birthday lunch. (Pho- tographs by Julia Jackson)
Military Training
Recently, a Clearwater na- tive completed all require- ments and graduated from basic military training in the U. S. Air Force.
Airman 1st Class Cory A. Beltran participated in his graduation ceremony at the Joint Base San Antonio- Lackland, in San Antonio, Texas.
Airman 1st Class Bel- tran completed an intensive, eight-week program that in- cluded training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fit- ness, and basic warfare prin- ciples and skills.
Airman 1st Class Bel- tran earned distinction as an Honor graduate. He also earned four credits toward an Associate in Applied Science degree through the Commu-
AIRMAN 1st CLASS CORY A. BELTRAN
nity College of the Air Force.
Airman 1st Class Bel- tran is the son of Dale Hop- kins, of Clearwater, and Mildred Hooper, of Tampa.
He graduated from Stein- brenner High School in 2013, and earned an Associate De- gree in 2016 from St. Peters- burg College.
Birthday honoree, Marie Way- ers, seated, is shown with her
Mrs. Wayers grandsons: Eric Phillip and Paul G. Bentley, who led the family prayer at the home serv- ice.
daughters, Carley Dranea Kimments.
Matthews and
Tampa Native Keeps Navy Wing Flying
PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS KEITH DAWSON
JACKSONVILLE — A Tampa native is among those serving in the U. S. Navy, aboard Naval Air Station Jacksonville. Jacksonville is home to the Navy’s newest maritime, patrol and recon- naissance aircraft.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Keith Dawson graduated from Plant City High School in 2008.
He is a Navy aviation maintenance administration man serving with Com- mander, Patrol and Recon- naissance Wing 11 (CPRW-11).
A Navy aviation adminis- tration man, he is responsible for the paperwork mainte- nance of all the aircraft in the squadron.
The P-8A Poseidon is a multi-mission aircraft that is replacing the legacy P-3C
Orion. Those who fly in the P- 8A hunt for submarines and surface ships as well as con- duct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
The P-8A operates with a smaller crew than the P-3C, and it also delivers an ex- tended global reach, greater payload capacity, and higher operating altitude. It also has an open-systems architecture with significant growth poten- tial.
According to Navy offi- cials, there are more than 15 Navy patrol squadrons in the U. S. and eight of those squadrons belong to Wing Eleven, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
This means that those who serve here are part of the first “Super Wing” in Maritime Pa- trol and Reconnaissance his- tory, ready to deploy and defend America and allies around the world.
Wing Eleven recently added the Navy’s newest squadron to its arsenal: Un- manned Patrol Squadron Nineteen (VP-19), flying the MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). The P- 8A and MQ-4C will serve as the future of the Maritime Pa- trol and Reconnaissance Force, according to Navy offi- cials.
Grandkids and great-grandchildren of the Wayers and Bentley families.
Those who also joined the birthday honoree are: Molly Sullens, Karmen Green, Randy Dannis, Brenda Dannis, Jannella Presley and Richard Keller.
PAGE 8 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018