Army National Guard Spec. Meri L. Rinehart-Straig has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

During the nine weeks of training, she studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics and other disciplines.

Rinehart-Straig is the sister of Ami Straight and Juli Ishijima of Snoqualmie. She graduated in 2001 from Mount Rainer High School in Des Moines and received a bachelor’s degree in 2007 from Seattle University.