Sheriff Ezell Brown and the Newton County Sheriff’s Office graduated 16 law enforcement officers from the agency’s Basic SWAT Training Course, held Feb. 9-13.

From Green Berets to the S-1 clerk and everyone in between, every soldier has something in common with each other: they’ve all started their military careers at the U.S. Army’s Basic Combat Training.

The prep courses started in 2022 and were an immediate success, graduating about 95% of attending soldiers who were then allowed to move on to basic training. So far, nearly 17,300 troops have ...