• Air Force 2nd Lt. Andrew C. Conwell and Air Force Reserve 2nd Lt. Matthew J. Houck have graduated from Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. The students earned silver wings with an aeronautical rating of pilot in the Air Force.

Student pilots start the 52-week SUPT program by attending a three-week preflight phase consisting of academics and physiology training for flight preparation, This is followed by phase two primary training conducted in T-37 Tweet aircraft to learn flight characteristics, emergency procedures, takeoff and landing procedures, aerobatics, and formation flying. Students also practice night, instrument and cross-country navigation.

Each training phase includes extensive hours of ground events, flight simulator, day and night flying, and flight related instruction. Additional instruction is received on flight formation, navigation, low-level navigation flying, visual and instrument transition, radar cell formation, and simulated refueling and airdrop missions.

After primary training, students move on to advanced training in one of several tracks. Students selected for fighter-bomber assignments fly the T-38A aircraft; airlift-tanker students fly the T-1A aircraft; multi-engine turboprop students fly the C-130 aircraft, and helicopter students fly the UH-1 Huey at their assigned bases or stations.

Conwell is the son of A. Brent and Connie Conwell of Peachtree City, Ga. and a 2001 graduate of McIntosh High School, Peachtree City, Ga. He received a bachelor's degree in 2005 from U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Houck will be assigned to McGuire Air Force Base, Trenton, N.J. He is the son of Rick and Teri Houck of Peachtree City, Ga. The lieutenant graduated in the year 2000 from Starr's Mill High School, Fayetteville, Ga. and received a bachelor's degree in 2004 from the University of Georgia, Athens.

• Laura (Val) Dietmeyer, a Luther College freshman from Peachtree City, Ga., is a member of the Luther College vocal ensembles and orchestra that will perform Beethoven’s Mass in C on March 30 and 31. Luther will present the major choral orchestral work on March 30 in the Center for Faith and Life on the college campus in Decorah, Iowa, and March 31 at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, 900 Stillwater Rd., Mahtomedi, Minn.

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