Army Sgt. Marc E. Dowd has returned to the U.S. after a deployment to Afghanistan to support the mission of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name given to anti-terrorism military operations involving U.S. troops and allied coalition partners. Active duty and reserve component members from all branches of the U.S. armed forces have been deployed to support the war against global terrorism outside the borders of the United States. U.S. troops serve in South and Southwest Asia, Central Asia, the Arabian peninsula, islands in the Pacific and Europe.

Dowd is an ammunition stock control supervisor assigned to the 10th Joint Logistics Command, Fort Drum, Watertown, N.Y.

He is the son of Whilliam E. Dowd of Unity and Betty Soule of Gray. The sergeant is a 1998 graduate of Skowhegan Area High School.

Army Pvt. Brandon J. Pelletier has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

During the nine weeks of training, the soldier studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches and field training exercises.

He is the son of Roland and Gail Pelletier of Lewiston. Pelletier is a 2004 graduate of Leavitt Area High School, Turner.

Army Pvt. Nicholas R. Harmon has graduated from One Station Unit Training at Fort Sill, Lawton, Okla. The training included completion of basic military training and advanced individual training.

In basic training, the soldier received instruction in drill and ceremonies, weapons, map reading, tactics, military courtesy, military justice, physical fitness, first aid and Army history and traditions.

During advanced training, he completed the field artillery fire support specialist advanced individual training course. The course is designed to train soldiers to establish, maintain and operate radio and wire communications and speech security equipment, including encoding and decoding messages using specific line templates; prepare and maintain daily staff journal, fire support situation map, status charts, capability overlay and other fire support and target processing records; and assist in initiating requests for field artillery, mortar, naval gunfire, and aerial delivered munitions.

Harmon is the son of Rocky Harmon and Kimberly Berry, both of Lisbon Falls. He is a 2006 graduate of Lisbon High School.