FROM STAFF REPORTS

Dallas C. Caviness has joined the United States Army under the Delayed Entry Program. The program gives young men and women the opportunity to delay entering active duty for up to one year.

The enlistment gives the new soldier the option to learn a new skill, travel and become eligible to receive as much as $50,000 toward a college education.

Caviness, a 2007 graduate of a high school program at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, reported for basic training at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga.

He is the son of Rhonda C. Pierce of Helena