WASHINGTON - A half-century has passed since retired Army Maj. Julia Baxter worked as an operating room nurse in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH, in war-torn South Korea.

WASHINGTON - (This is a summary of the top American Forces Press Service news stories for the week ending March 30, 2001.)

WASHINGTON - The security balance across the Taiwan Strait is stable, but China's military buildup threatens to tip the scale, according to the top U.S. military officer in the Pacific.

WASHINGTON - Analysts studying events surrounding the bombing of two chemical weapon sites said March 27 that no U.S. troops were exposed in one incident and its likely none were in the other.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Customs and DoD are working together to prevent foot-and-mouth disease, which has cropped up in Britain and Europe, from coming stateside.

WASHINGTON - "AFIS On Assignment" is a weekly publication of the American Forces Information Service.

WASHINGTON - There is sufficient stored blood for contingency use by U.S. troops stationed in Europe and Asia, a DoD official said.

NAVAL STATION SAN DIEGO - With the USS Shiloh and USS Decatur as a backdrop, first lady Laura Bush asked retiring service members to start a second career in teaching.

WASHINGTON - Sports are a big part of the military culture, but service members have to be more careful when they play.

WASHINGTON - You've been a slug all winter long and now the PT test is staring you in the face. What do you do?

WASHINGTON - Service members can begin to sign up for the Thrift Savings Plan beginning Oct. 9, 2001, DoD officials said.

WASHINGTON - Bessie Coleman wouldn't be deterred. She spent her life following her dream and eventually died because of it, but she blazed a path that women aviators have followed ever since.

SPRINGFIELD, Va. - A third-grade Air Force girl captured the judges' attention in the sixth annual Armed Services YMCA art contest with her pencil drawing of her family's reunion after a deployment.

WASHINGTON - The Army will demonstrate how new technology can put more predictability into the uncertain -- and deadly -- business of war during a two- week exercise starting April 1 at Fort Irwin, Calif.

WASHINGTON - April flowers mean driving in spring showers -- and fog -- and maybe winter ice and snow in some areas of the country. Drivers are in a cusp offering the worst road conditions of both seasons.

WASHINGTON - "AFIS On Assignment" is a weekly publication of the American Forces Information Service.

WASHINGTON - For 50 years, the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services has led the way in women's fight for equality in the military. And the organization's current leader is focusing on the future.

WASHINGTON - Vickie McCall thinks the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services has made such strides at home that it might have a role in helping to open military opportunities to women in other countries.

WASHINGTON - U.S. troops in Europe continue to train and perform their readiness missions after making adjustments in view of host-nation concerns about cattle-borne foot and mouth disease.

WASHINGTON - Ask Maj. Gen. Martha T. Rainville and she'll confirm she's the first woman to serve as a state adjutant general in the 360-year history of the National Guard. Then she'll add, "But really, so what?"

WASHINGTON - (This is a summary of the American Forces Press Service news stories for the week ending March 23, 2001.)

WASHINGTON - President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met separately with Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen March 22 and discussed a range of U.S.- China issues.

WASHINGTON - First Bosnia, then Kosovo, and now the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia -- U.S. and other NATO-led troops are on the fringes of the latest Balkans hotspot.

WASHINGTON - The United States and NATO condemn the escalating violence ignited by extremist ethnic Albanian guerrillas in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and support efforts to quell the conflict.

ARLINGTON, Va. - TRICARE's new dental insurance program will help ensure reservists are ready to deploy when they're called, DoD medical officials said.

WASHINGTON - Army Reserve Maj. Gena Bonini was a young lieutenant when she packed her bags and headed for Saudi Arabia more than 10 years ago. Her forward support battalion would deploy her to support a maneuver battalion from one of the more traditional and historical units of the U.S. Army, the 1st Cavalry Division.

WASHINGTON - Responding to escalating violence in the Balkans, NATO is asking members for more troops to tighten its control of Kosovo's border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz heard a booming cannonade and praise from his boss at a March 16 full honors welcoming ceremony at the Pentagon.

ARLINGTON, Va. - Taking young children to the dentist makes them better dental patients later in life -- reducing stress for both them and their dentist.

FORT LEE, Va. - Have trouble boiling water? Fear no more.

WASHINGTON - Spring is here, and so is tick season across America and in many foreign countries. Being bitten by an infected tick can result in debilitating, sometimes deadly, Lyme disease, military and civilian experts warn.

WASHINGTON - The United States is reducing the number of troops and heavy equipment taking part in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Bosnia.

WASHINGTON - More than 15 million people from around the world have visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum since it opened in April 1993, making it one of the most visited museums in the nation's capital.

WASHINGTON - A Service Members Legal Defense Network report released March 15 says anti-gay harassment in the military has decreased and commends the Army's homosexual policy training program.

WASHINGTON - A DoD investigation board arrived in Kuwait March 15 to determine the cause of a training accident that killed six coalition service members and injured seven others.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld support the Army's decision to require most soldiers to wear black berets, Wolfowitz announced here March 16.

WASHINGTON - (This is a summary of the American Forces Press Service news stories for the week ending March 16, 2001.)

WASHINGTON - "AFIS On Assignment" is a weekly publication of the American Forces Information Service.

WASHINGTON - "Education! Education! Education! Education is the key to success," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi exclaimed.

WASHINGTON - Calling himself a veteran's activist, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi vowed to conduct a major top-to-bottom review of his department's health care and claims processing systems and its use of information technology.

WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials are investigating the March 12 F/A-18 training accident in Kuwait that killed six coalition service members and injured seven others.

WASHINGTON - At the president's request, senior defense leaders are looking into the Army's decision to issue its black beret to all soldiers.

WASHINGTON - U.S. space specialists are providing Russian technicians with Mir space station positional data to help ensure the vehicles safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean later this week.

WASHINGTON - Six people were killed and at least five were injured March 12 when a Navy jet accidentally dropped "explosive ordnance" on a group watching a training exercise in Kuwait, military officials said.

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas - Doggone him.

WASHINGTON - "Don't regret growing old, it's a privilege denied to many," reads a sign on the wall of 87-year-old Bertha "Birdie" Gelfer's small, tastefully decorated room here at the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home.

WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps has not started a search for a replacement to the embattled V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, contrary to news reports.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has stopped differentiating between National Missile Defense and Theater Missile Defense.

WASHINGTON - NATO Secretary-General George Robertson called NATO a "key tool" of the Western system and an agent of change, relevance and understanding following a March 8 meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

WASHINGTON - (This is a summary of the American Forces Press Service news stories for the week ending March 9, 2001.)

WASHINGTON - DoD's Task Force on Domestic Violence says the military must make it clear domestic violence often involves criminal behavior and challenge commanders to intensify efforts to prevent it.

WASHINGTON - In a Feb. 28 report to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the DoD Task Force on Domestic Violence made 59 recommendations to improve the military's response to domestic violence.

WASHINGTON - The United States will renew its dialogue with North Korea sometime in the future, President Bush said following a meeting with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung.

WASHINGTON - "AFIS On Assignment" is a weekly publication of the American Forces Information Service.

WASHINGTON - Eligible troops will automatically be insured for a maximum $250,000 in coverage through the militarys life insurance program starting April 1.

WASHINGTON - The Confederate soldiers appeared to have defeated their Union opponents at the Battle of Shiloh. Confederate Lt. Harry Buford, a handsome, scrappy officer, anticipated a glorious victory for his army. But all that exuberance was to be short-lived.

ARLINGTON, Va. - The National Guard rallied to support the grief-stricken families and friends of 21 guardsmen killed March 3 in the crash of their twin-engine transport near Unadilla, Ga., 30 miles south of Macon.

WASHINGTON - U.S. troops traded fire today with gunmen near the border town of Mijak, Kosovo, and wounded two, DoD officials said. No American soldiers were hurt in the exchange.

WASHINGTON - DoD officials are analyzing reports that the People's Republic of China is increasing military spending this year by almost 18 percent.

WASHINGTON - Some retirement-minded troops reaching 15 years of active service this summer will need to decide whether to accept a $30,000 cash bonus now in exchange for a reduced retirement plan after at least five more years in uniform.

WASHINGTON - Pay and quality of life issues are paramount to building a strong military, but DoD also must examine missions to ensure service members are performing the right tasks with the least strain, said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

WASHINGTON - The United States is the world’s sole remaining super power. America faces challenges and threats that span the spectrum of warfare, said Vice Adm. Thomas Wilson, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

WASHINGTON - It only took one swing for former first lady Nancy Reagan to break the traditional bottle of champagne across the bow of the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, named for her husband.

ARLINGTON, Va. - Gone are the days when you go to a military treatment facility and see whoever's available. By June, most TRICARE Prime enrollees should know their doctors name.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld surprised the Pentagon press corps March 1 by dropping by a routine briefing to introduce his newly confirmed deputy.

WASHINGTON - President Bush may still amend the fiscal 2002 defense budget, but he wants to "engage the brains before the taxpayers' pocketbooks," the Pentagon's top man said March 1.

WASHINGTON - (This is a summary of the American Forces Press Service news stories for the week ending March 2, 2001.)

WASHINGTON - "AFIS On Assignment" is a weekly publication of the American Forces Information Service.