AMHERST, Mass. - It presented quite a contrast -- military medics in battle dress utilities pulling "accident victims" from humvees and vans on the shady green lawn in front of colonial Edward Whitman Chapin Hall.

WASHINGTON - Three military officers are among 15 persons appointed June 25 by President Clinton to serve as 1997-1998 White House Fellows.

WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. - With temperatures outside in the sweltering 90s, the air-conditioned, air transportable hospital felt cool as a shady oasis.

WASHINGTON - America's continued military supremacy will hinge on ingenious ideas and technology and a clear focus on the future, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said June 23.

WASHINGTON - The indictment here of a suspected Saudi Arabian terrorist may not speed the U.S. investigation into last year's Khobar Towers bombing, but "it will certainly be helpful," Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said.

ABU DHABI, Bahrain - U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf are nothing new; they've protected vital American interests in the region for almost 50 years. But today, defense officials say, they have to deal with a new threat.

MUSCAT, OMAN - There's no getting around it. Duty in the Middle East is tough and dangerous, and it's getting more so.

WASHINGTON - Fifteen children, all family members of military or DoD civilian personnel, won the 1997 Armed Services YMCA Young Readers Project.<

WASHINGTON - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, NATO Secretary General Javier Solana and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen confer during recent NATO meetings in Brussels, Belgium.

WASHINGTON - The DoD special assistant for Gulf War Illnesses said a draft report by the General Accounting Office draws erroneous conclusions about the on-going investigation.

PRINCE BIN SULTAN AIR BASE, Saudi Arabia - Iran and Iraq are determined to drive the United States out of the Middle East, but the United States is just as determined to stay.

CAMP DOHA, KUWAIT - About 15 hours after 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, left Fort Hood, Texas, in mid-June, the mechanized infantry unit married up with armor equipment prepositioned here and headed for the field.

WASHINGTON - The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery has gone high-tech.

BRUSSELS - Defense Secretary William S. Cohen reassured Slovenia and Romania the United States is serious about keeping the door to NATO membership open.

BRUSSELS - Defense Secretary William S. Cohen met Russian Prime Minister Andre Kokoshin here June 13 to discuss continued cooperation in various U.S.-Russian endeavors and to reduce any mutual tensions.

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - Defense Secretary William S. Cohen began a five-day trip to the Persian Gulf June 14 to visit U.S. troops and hold security talks with region leaders.

WASHINGTON - DoD's web site devoted to Gulf War illnesses, GulfLink, has a new address with improved search capabilities.

BRUSSELS - NATO expansion, Partnership for Peace, nuclear disarmament, Bosnia, command of NATO's Allied Forces South -- Defense Secretary William S. Cohen discussed these issues with his alliance counterparts.

BRUSSELS - The United States supports inviting Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to join NATO.

WASHINGTON - The United States will remain a Pacific power by maintaining a strong military presence in the region and by engaging more Asia-Pacific nations, according to Defense Secretary William S. Cohen.

WASHINGTON - More than 1,100 military personnel from 29 NATO and Partnership for Peace nations are meeting June 11 through July 3 for exercise Cooperative Nugget 97 at Fort Polk, La.

WASHINGTON - As the USS Kearsarge steamed away from the coast of West Africa and headed for the Mediterranean, the sailors and Marines aboard could readily say: "Mission accomplished."

WASHINGTON - Twelve European nations and the United States will participate in the 25th annual Baltic Operations 1997 maritime exercise.

WASHINGTON - Recent sexual misconduct cases represent the exception, not the rule, according to DoD officials.

WASHINGTON - A panel will look into gender-integrated training and a DoD task force will look into DoD policies regarding adultery, fraternization and other privacy issues, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced June 7.

WASHINGTON - When Army Capt. Raymond Topp returned from Desert Storm six years ago, he and his wife Stephanie had dreams of starting a family.

WASHINGTON - Getting ready to conduct your two-week annual training? Putting in for a military school you need to get promoted? Or preparing to return to your civilian job after a long-term deployment?

WASHINGTON - Employer problems? The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve has a network of more than 4,300 volunteer ombudsmen. They're trained to act as mediators between reservists and their civilian bosses, and to provide information about civilian job rights.

WASHINGTON - In the Army, Navy and Air Force, men and women recruits train the way they will fight -- together.

WASHINGTON - A new 200-room state-of-the-art hotel featuring first-class accommodation at reasonable prices is now open here at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

WASHINGTON - Bosnian officials should not take NATO's stabilization forces for granted, according to Great Britain's new defense minister.

FORT WORTH, Texas - A total of 200 reservists from the 301st Fighter Wing took their F-16s and 95 tons of support equipment to Karup, Denmark, for exercise Central Enterprise.

WASHINGTON - Peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia. Flood relief operations in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Road building and other construction projects in Central America. Aircraft recovery support in the Colorado Rockies.

WASHINGTON - "We are living in a world in which increasingly our future is interdependent with other nations, and we must work with them all across the globe," President Clinton recently told U.S. Military Academy graduates.

WASHINGTON - DoD will expand a demonstration project in an effort to enhance the quality and professionalism of the acquisition work force.

WASHINGTON - A case narrative on exposure to chemical agents by U.S. troops in the Gulf War and the first edition of a newsletter on Gulf War illnesses reached the Internet in May.

WASHINGTON - A computer training device has saved the Air Force $18 million so far; a critical, new signal processor linking helicopters and ships cut Navy costs $5 million; and a better way to heat field rations saved DoD $2 million.

WASHINGTON - Fifty-four people whose ideas saved DoD $143 million, received 1997 secretary of defense productivity excellence awards May 21 at the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - U.S. forces evacuated 1,200 people May 30 and 31 from Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, after a military coup left the security situation in the West African nation uncertain, DoD officials said.

WASHINGTON - For half a century, Central and Eastern Europe were forbidden lands rarely visited by Americans. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, freedom and democracy swept through the former communist bloc. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and others are now rejoining the Western world, seeking prosperity, stability and security.