BRUSSELS, Belgium - NATO is changing to meet the challenges the alliance faces in the 21st century, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces remain on the offensive against anti- coalition elements, and continue stability and support operations in Iraq to enable the restoration of a free Iraq, reported Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations, Combined Joint Task Force 7, today from Baghdad.

WASHINGTON - The coalition forces commander in Iraq said today that a changing U.S. military unit composition will yield a more mobile force in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq continued the offensive against insurgents today, seizing an Iraqi leader accused of inciting unrest and financing anti-coalition activities.

WASHINGTON - About 600 troops gathered for Thanksgiving Day dinner in Baghdad had a surprise guest: their commander in chief, President Bush.

WASHINGTON - Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers accepted the Business Executives for National Security Eisenhower Award on behalf of the men and women of America's armed forces.

WASHINGTON - Military operations in northern Iraq Nov. 25 by U.S. forces led to the arrest of the wife and daughter of the Ibrahimal-Duri, a senior Saddam official who is believed to be the mastermind behind attacks on U.S. forces, according to CENTCOM officials today.

WASHINGTON - Britain's top diplomat said today in Baghdad that members of the Iraqi Governing Council are pleased that an Iraqi-run government is slated to assume governance of the country early next summer.

WASHINGTON - Cherii Robison dresses up in American Indian regalia and travels around dancing in powwows to keep her culture alive.

WASHINGTON - Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday - a reminder not only of the abundance that freedom brings, but that ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded on freedom.

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - 145,000 pounds of turkey. 71,000 pounds of smoked hams. 71,000 pounds of prime rib. 38,000 pounds of shrimp. 576,000 servings of stuffing. 270,000 servings of corn on the cob. 150,000 servings of cranberry jelly. 41,000 pies apple, pumpkin, cherry, pecan and sweet potato. And don't forget the decorations, eggnog, candies, nuts, ice cream and sparkling non-alcoholic wine.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz hosted a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at the Pentagon Nov. 25 honoring almost 70 U.S. service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families and thanking them for their contributions to the war on terror.

WASHINGTON - Army Spc. Brian Wilhelm has been at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here since Oct. 11, exactly six months from the time his unit crossed into Iraq. His lower left leg was amputated as a result of being severely wounded in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Americans everywhere should be thankful for service members serving in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - Rick Herter welcomed each person with a smile and a handshake. He eagerly answered and asked questions as he autographed his prints at the Pentagon here Nov. 24.

WASHINGTON - When LaRita Aragon was growing up in Dale, Okla. population about 300 -- in the '50s, '60s and '70s, being an American Indian wasn't in vogue.

WASHINGTON - A laugh was the first thing out of the mouth of visual artist Enoch Kelly Haney when he was asked to do a painting of an American Indian woman warrior.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. and coalition goal in Iraq is "to give the Iraqi people the opportunity to create a new and thriving Iraq" for themselves, a senior Defense Department official said here Nov. 24.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department's top personnel and readiness official called the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act "transformational" for its support of the department's aim to change to confront the threats of the future.

WASHINGTON - A life of volunteerism and community service has earned a top Defense Department official the 2003 Federal Law Enforcement Foundation's Community Service Award.

WASHINGTON - The coalition's intensified offensive operations in Iraq have reduced attacks on American forces by about 50 percent during the past two weeks, but as a result, desperate Saddam Hussein loyalists have turned their aggression toward innocent Iraqis, officials told reporters in Baghdad today.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is ready to start consulting with allies on what the worldwide American military posture should be, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon press conference today.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department's advisory committee on women's and family issues is preparing its annual report for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

WASHINGTON - President Bush told soldiers and their families at Fort Carson, Colo., today that a new generation has been called to great challenges.

WASHINGTON - In a nationwide broadcast, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III explained to the Iraqi people the steps to re-establishing sovereignty.

WASHINGTON - Guardsmen, reservists, and their families and employers will have the chance to ride on a float honoring reserve component service and employers' contributions to that service during the Tournament of Roses 2004 parade in Pasadena, Calif.

WASHINGTON - Calling it a landmark piece of legislation that sends the clear message that "Americans stand with the United States military," President Bush signed the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act in a Pentagon ceremony here today.

WASHINGTON - Five U.S. soldiers were killed and seven others were injured Nov. 23 when their helicopter crashed near Bagram, Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command officials said.

WASHINGTON - Baghdad International Airport was closed to all civilian traffic after a DHL cargo aircraft was hit by surface-to-air missiles Nov. 22, coalition officials said during a press conference today in Baghdad, Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Fourth-grade students Allison Foster and Rebeca Reyes, both 9, said they were sad to see the military go off to war in Iraq. Reyes said she really didn't know much about the war, other than what her mother told her: "that my grandpapa was in the last one."

WASHINGTON - Michele Heidenberger enjoyed tennis. The lead flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 77 and 183 others lost their lives when the hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001.

WASHINGTON - Unconventional rocket attacks that struck the Iraqi oil ministry and two hotels in Baghdad today indicate insurgents' increasing difficulty in carrying out assaults against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, according to a senior U.S. military officer.

WASHINGTON - As America approaches the Thanksgiving holiday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he is grateful for the voluntary service of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines worldwide as they protect America and take the fight to the terrorists.

WASHINGTON - The fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act pluses up military pay accounts and creates a whole new civilian personnel system.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Several hundred Baghdad-area residents arrived early in the morning Nov. 13 to begin what could be a career as an Iraqi police officer.

WASHINGTON - Though some attacks against them continue to take place, U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces continue to round up insurgents and their weapons.

WASHINGTON - Fifteen years ago, Quoc Truong knew there had to be a better way to protect service members from chemical and biological agents.

WASHINGTON - Federal employees returning from Guard and Reserve duty in the terror war are receiving an extra five days' "uncharged" civilian leave.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Special Operations Command announced plans Nov. 18 to relocate its headquarters that provides command and control for special operations in Central and South America to Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., by March 31, 2004.

WASHINGTON - "Success in Afghanistan is the only option," Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters during a briefing Nov. 19 at the State Department's Foreign Press Center.

WASHINGTON - Terrorist attacks in Istanbul will not drive a wedge between the United States and Turkey, but will draw them closer together, said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz today.

WASHINGTON - Enemy attacks against the coalition in and around Baghdad have dropped by 70 percent since Operation Iron Hammer began Nov. 12, the commander of the 1st Armored Division said today.

WASHINGTON - It wasn't easy sending her only son off to war last February, Nancy Fowler admits. And it's no easier now that he's home, knowing that his unit, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, is preparing to return to Iraq again this time, for a full year.

WASHINGTON - The leaders of the United States and Great Britain today pledged to stand fast in Iraq and continue their unified fight against world terrorism as yet another apparent terrorist bombing rocked Istanbul, Turkey.

WASHINGTON - Then-Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs had just won his first Super Bowl when he literally cashed in on the accomplishment. The team's owner awarded him a cash bonus, but later Gibbs learned that the owner would stand to make a lot more money than the paltry $70,000 Gibbs received.

WASHINGTON - Arthur K. Cebrowski, director of DoD's Office of Force Transformation, has been named by Scientific American magazine as one of the "Scientific American 50."

WASHINGTON - New, reinforced helmets and body armor being fielded to the military today represent just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what's on the drawing board for protecting warfighters of the future.

EDGEWATER, Md. - "Powwows are important to native culture, because at one time we were not allowed to be Indians," said Clayton Old Elk, a member of the Crow Indian Tribe of Montana.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and Australian officials conferred on the global war of terrorism during a meeting at the Pentagon today.

WASHINGTON - U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces continue to capture or kill coalition enemies, seize their weapons and destroy their hiding places as Operations Iron Hammer and Ivy Cyclone II roll on in Iraq, a senior coalition officer said in a Baghdad news conference today.

WASHINGTON - A key member of Saddam Hussein's deposed regime now has a $10 million price on his head, Coalition Provisional Authority officials said at a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq, today.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said the peace and security of free nations rest on three pillars during a speech in London today.

WASHINGTON - Two independent, DoD-requested medical panels recently concluded it's possible that vaccinations given to an Army reservist caused a severe illness that led to her death, DoD's senior health care official said here Nov. 18.

WASHINGTON - Smoking affects both the personal health and readiness of military personnel, so DoD is encouraging those who smoke or use smokeless tobacco to take steps to end their addiction by taking part in the Great American Smokeout Nov. 20.

WASHINGTON - The letters, memoirs, audio interviews and photographs are "everything that you could imagine," said Ellen McCulloch- Lovell, director of the Veterans History Project, an effort begun by Congress two years ago to preserve the stories and memories of America's war veterans.

WASHINGTON - The United States is transferring some of its military missions in South Korea to that country's military.

WASHINGTON - Attacks against coalition forces in the Al Anbar province have decreased in the past weeks, 82nd Airborne Division Commander Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., said in an interview from Baghdad, Iraq, today.

WASHINGTON - Army Sgt. 1st Class Caron Whitby likes talking to young people. The Californian and former drill sergeant has helped shape and prepare hundreds of soldiers for Army life, and many are likely serving in hot spots all over the globe.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces in Iraq captured 99 anti-coalition suspects in 25 raids, and the 4th Infantry Division conducted 36 attacks against anti-coalition targets, a U.S. military official told reporters in Baghdad Nov. 17.

WASHINGTON - Part of the $87.5 billion supplemental appropriations bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan signed earlier this month by President Bush will go toward improving quality of life for troops there.

SEOUL, South Korea - American military forces in South Korea need to transform to defend against changing threats in today's world, the general in charge of U.S. and combined forces in that country said.

SEOUL, South Korea - With 1.2 million people under arms, the North Korean military is "a very credible conventional force," the U.S. general in charge of defending against that force said.

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spent the last day of a six-day trip to Asia with men and women of the U.S. military serving on the "front line of freedom."

SEOUL, South Korea - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reassured South Korean leaders that any changes in the U.S. posture in the country will do nothing to detract from the United States' commitment to defend Korea.

WASHINGTON - Something about a 12-foot-high, 56-ton rock north of Greenfield, Iowa, must scream "Paint me!" to the artistically inclined. For years, it played host to teenagers' graffiti as it stood sentry next to Highway 25, about a mile south of the Greenfield exit off Interstate 80 in Iowa.

WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein's "same old stuff" and "propaganda" won't keep the United States from completing its mission in Iraq, President Bush said here Nov. 16.

WASHINGTON - U.S. soldiers prevented an illegal border crossing and killed or captured attackers in three weekend incidents, officials at Combined Joint Task Force 7 in Iraq reported today.

WASHINGTON - Once the children are off to school, Arlyn McCoaughry logs onto the computer in her Arizona home and begins reading e- mails from service members deployed throughout the world.

WASHINGTON - The United Service Organizations recently announced it has teamed up with Armed Forces Entertainment and Reader's Digest to help support U.S. troops during the 2003 holiday season.

SEOUL, South Korea - The United States and South Korea have agreed in principle to move most American forces out of the capital city of Seoul and south from the demilitarized zone along the border with North Korea.

WASHINGTON - With Operation Iron Hammer in full swing around Baghdad and Operation Ivy Cyclone II under way around Tikrit, Baquba, Kirkuk and Balad, U.S. and coalition forces continue to crack down on insurgents in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - U.S. military forces may remain in Iraq when full sovereignty is given to the Iraqi people in June and the Coalition Provisional Authority dissolves, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, CPA administrator, said in interviews from Baghdad, Iraq, today on Sunday television talk shows.

WASHINGTON - The Army's 4th Infantry Division and Task Force Ironhorse have launched a combined-arms operation called Ivy Cyclone II in the effort to root out and crush insurgents in Iraq, U.S. Central Command officials announced today.

SEOUL, South Korea - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa today, where he met with military service members and local officials.

TOKYO - The U.S. military's "up-or-out" personnel policy is "a lousy idea," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told sailors in Yokosuka, Japan, today.

WASHINGTON - Seventeen soldiers are dead, five others are injured, and one more still is unaccounted for following today's crash of two U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters in West Mosul, Iraq.

TOKYO - The security relationship between the United States and Japan is just as vital today as it was during the Cold War and immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Japan's chief defense official said here today.

WASHINGTON - Two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed at about 6:30 p.m local time today in West Mosul, Iraq, U.S. Central Command officials announced.

YOKOSUKA, Japan - Stressing the importance of its service in the Pacific region, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited the crew of the USS Blue Ridge here today.

BALTIMORE - "Today is Army day," proclaimed 5-year-old Allan 'AJ' Hill II on Nov. 14 as he stood in the arrival area for international flights at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

WASHINGTON - President Bush recognized the importance of employers in making their employees' military service possible as he signed a proclamation marking National Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve Week.

WASHINGTON - Justice is part of the "future of hope" in Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority administrator told the Iraqi people in his weekly broadcast address from Baghdad today.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz today praised the exemplary support provided by nine civilian employers of Guard and Reserve members.

WASHINGTON - When Mary Massey adopted Robert Campbell earlier this year, she had no idea what to expect. Like others who adopt, she thought that adoption might be a positive and kind gesture that would help another person. Little did Massey know that shortly after adopting Campbell, he would ask for enough cookies to feed 600 of his friends.

WASHINGTON - "One can't separate the rights of women from the rights of all people," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a delegation of Iraqi women visiting the Pentagon today.

WASHINGTON - Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime presented a clear and present danger to the United States and to the world and had to be removed, DoD's top policy official told members of a think tank here Nov. 13.

WASHINGTON - Army and Air Force aircraft reportedly pounded insurgent staging and operating facilities and killed seven people preparing an attack on U.S. forces during the second night of Operation Iron Hammer in Iraq.

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today that he agrees that the cause of rebuilding Iraq is important to the international community.

TOKYO, Japan - American and other coalition military forces fighting the war on terrorism are making a choice between living in freedom and living in fear, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a crowd of service members in Guam today.

BALTIMORE - The moonlight dances with the lights on the tarmac at Baltimore-Washington International Airport as the winds blow rustling leaves across the runway. It's 4 a.m., or "o-dark thirty" as those in the military like to say.

WASHINGTON - The governing council wants to take on more responsibility for Iraq, and the Bush administration is more than willing to help them, said Condoleezza Rice, the president's adviser for national security.

WASHINGTON - Multitalented special operations troops provide senior U.S. military commanders with an array of options in addressing the multifaceted challenges presented by the war on global terrorism, said DoD's top special operations official.

WASHINGTON - The terrorists trying to undermine coalition efforts in Iraq are a "despicable bunch of thugs," but no military threat exists in Iraq that can drive the United States out, the commander of U.S. Central Command said today.

WASHINGTON - The coalition will continue to press the fight in Iraq, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said during television interviews Nov. 12.

WASHINGTON - A series of coordinated strikes dubbed "Operation Iron Hammer" kicked off Nov. 12 with U.S. forces striking back at anti-coalition insurgents in Iraq.

TAMUNING, Guam - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today expressed his sympathies to the families and friends of the 12 Italian military police troops who died when their headquarters in the Iraqi town of Nasiriyah was blown up Nov. 12.

TAMUNING, Guam - The United States needs to shed its Cold War-era force posture and position itself to fight modern threats, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - The National Hockey League's Washington Capitals hosted their 3rd annual "Salute to Military Night" at the MCI Center here Nov. 12.

WASHINGTON - Legislation signed by President Bush on Veterans Day increases the death gratuity payment to $12,000 and provides that the full payment is tax-free.

WASHINGTON - Following meetings with President Bush and his advisers, Ambassador Paul Bremer will go back to Baghdad and continue discussions with the Iraqi Governing Council.

WASHINGTON - At least 22 people were killed today when two vehicles crashed the gate of the Italian military headquarters in Nasiriyah, Iraq, and one exploded.

WASHINGTON - The only "exit strategy" for U.S. forces in Iraq is success, but the coalition is well on its way to achieving that aim, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will travel to Asia Nov. 12 to visit American troops and meet with U.S. allies in the region, he announced Nov. 10.

WASHINGTON - "We will finish the mission we have begun, period," President Bush said during a Veterans Day speech at the Heritage Foundation here today.

WASHINGTON - Anti-coalition forces "will fail" to break the will of the coalition and of the vast majority of the Iraqi people, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said in Baghdad, Iraq, today.

WASHINGTON - American service members are involved in a "noble cause" in protecting the United States from the threat of terrorism, Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said today.

ARLINGTON, Va. - Among the many veterans who came to see President Bush pay tribute to the nation's veterans on the 50th anniversary of Veterans Day here today, three said they still are willing to serve their country, ready to go back to war and rejoin America's latest battle in Iraq.

ARLINGTON, Va. - President Bush expressed the nation's gratitude to its veterans in remarks at Arlington National Cemetery here today, where he also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

WASHINGTON - When Vietnamese Minister of National Defense Senior Lt. Gen. Pham Van Tra entered the Pentagon today, it was the first time a defense leader from his country had entered the building since 1973.

QAYARAH, Iraq - Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) not only are working to make Iraq secure, but also are putting time and effort into helping towns and villages with their "Operation Helping Hands" and "Adopt a Village" programs.

WASHINGTON - Coalition personnel conducted raids Sunday in and around Baghdad, Iraq, and detained 18 men suspected of taking part in the Oct. 26 Al Rasheed Hotel missile attack, a Pentagon spokesman said.

WASHINGTON - Before his youngest son joined the Marine Corps, Frank Schaeffer's impression of military service could be summed up on a mock recruiting poster: "Out of Work? Undereducated? No Health Plan? Join the Army and see Iraq."

WASHINGTON - With "success" as the exit strategy, the numbers of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq in the meantime "will depend on the security situation on the ground," the Defense Department's top civilian told foreign journalists here today.

WASHINGTON - Veterans Day is a solemn day to honor and recognize all who have served our nation in war and in peace. This year, hundreds of thousands of our men and women in uniform and Department of Defense civilians have the distinction of serving in wartime. Counted among them is the largest number of reservists and guardsmen activated since the Korean War.

WASHINGTON - From the birth of our nation - when farmers dropped their pitchforks, and took up muskets to secure our independence - courageous young men and women have stepped forward to defend freedom. They are America's veterans.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - These are not your typical Baghdad care packages. The brown boxes arriving from the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families contain diapers, pacifiers, blankets and powder, not items high on any soldier's hit list.

MOSUL, Iraq - The headquarters for all fire stations in the Nineveh province of Northern Iraq opened Oct. 30 after soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) helped to rebuild it.

WASHINGTON - Army Cpl. Jeremy Whitsitt never knows exactly what he'll be asked to do when he gets to work each day.

WASHINGTON - The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the United States is winning the war in Afghanistan and Iraq and that America is making progress in the global war on terrorism.

WASHINGTON - Secretary Anthony Principi made bold claims today on plans to transform the second largest federal department in the nation, promising veterans and America that the "Veterans Affairs will not be found wanting."

WASHINGTON - What the VA loan program did to help veterans acquire a piece of the American dreamtheir own home, a program called "The Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative," or VetFran, is helping retiring vets obtain an even larger slicetheir own business.

WASHINGTON - Senior coalition leaders in Iraq are about to increase their ability to keep America informed.

WASHINGTON - Six American soldiers were killed Nov. 7 when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Tikrit, Iraq, according to U.S. Central Command.

ARLINGTON, Va. - More than 500 members of an Oklahoma Army National Guard infantry brigade are transferring the military training skills and cultural lessons they have been mastering this fall in Colorado to the southwest Asian country, where they will serve for most of the upcoming winter and spring.

WASHINGTON - "No enemy or friend can doubt that America has the resources and the will to see this war through to victory," said President Bush before signing the $87.5 billion supplemental appropriations bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - Vietnam veteran and four-time Super Bowl champion Rocky Bleier, running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, will narrate a National Football League public service announcement in support of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund during network telecasts beginning Nov. 9.

WASHINGTON - It's important that leaders and communicators at TRICARE -- the Defense Department's health care plan are on the same page in providing accurate, timely information to beneficiaries and other audiences, DoD's top health care official said here Nov. 4.

WASHINGTON - If democracy doesn't take hold in Iraq, that failure "would embolden terrorists around the world," President George Bush said here today.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - A culturally diverse group of Combined Joint Task Force 180 members celebrated the kickoff of Native American Heritage Month with a Nov. 5 ceremony here.

WASHINGTON - Predictability and stability are at the heart of the new troop rotation policy DoD officials announced today.

WASHINGTON - President Bush sent the following message via the American Forces Radio and Television Service Nov. 5:

WASHINGTON - Boosting the number of U.S. troops in Iraq would be counterproductive and take away a job best suited for the Iraqis themselves, congressional representatives said today at the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - While the number of U.S. forces in Iraq will drop by May 2004, the security capability in the country will increase, DoD officials said today.

WASHINGTON - The weather conditions were perfect: Heavy snowfall was blasting the Washington metro region with up to 25 inches. It was just the moment John W. Alli had been waiting for to do something to honor his father.

WASHINGTON - Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq over the past two days in separate incidents, according to U.S. Central Command releases.

WASHINGTON - Recruiting and retention has "held up nicely despite stress on the force as a whole," Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David Chu told members of the House Armed Services Committee here today.

WASHINGTON - U.S. service members captured two Iraqi generals suspected of being the money behind terrorist activities in Fallujah, Combined Joint Task Force 7 officials said today.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs announced the launch of "VA Kids" today, a new Web page designed to help young people understand what it means to be a veteran.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The residents of the Baghdad Zoo will benefit from recent equipment purchases by U.S. Army civil affairs and medical command soldiers.

WASHINGTON - While Iraq is the central front of the war on terrorism, Afghanistan is a crucial theater also, DoD officials said today.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said today that to sustain the support of the Iraqi people, America must send a "clear and strong signal that the United States will be with them until we are no longer needed."

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited wounded service men, women and their families Nov. 3 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

MOSUL, Iraq - With hundreds wounded and scores killed by improvised explosive devices, coalition forces are doing everything possible to prepare their troops with needed awareness training.

WASHINGTON - American troops are doing a fine job and their morale is good despite "difficult" conditions, agreed four congressmen recently returned from Iraq.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany - Today begins a four-day meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, to refine cooperative efforts toward NATO membership.

JALALBAD, Afghanistan - With a little bit of luck and a landmine detour, the Combined Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force team based in Jalalabad found a good home recently for the future Provincial Reconstruction Team site in the eastern Afghan province of Nagarhar.

BABYLON, Iraq - In the arid, ancient Iraqi city of Babylon, soldiers of the 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) watched Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, 101st commander, pass their unit's colors to a new commander here Nov. 2.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said that some of the best Americans have fallen in defense of freedom and liberty. "We mourn every loss. We honor every name. We grieve with every family. And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders," he said during a speech in Birmingham, Ala., today.

WASHINGTON - Wetter, cooler weather have helped firefighting efforts in California so much that a battalion alerted for firefighting duty has been released, Pentagon officials said.

WASHINGTON - The Nov. 2 downing of a U.S. military helicopter that was flying troops en route to stateside leave won't affect a recently expanded rest and recuperation leave program, according to U.S. Central Command.

WASHINGTON - A soldier succumbed to his wounds today, raising the total of those killed in the Chinook shootdown to 16, Pentagon officials said.

WASHINGTON - "Enormous numbers. Enormous numbers," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld responded Nov. 2 when asked if he knew how many shoulder-held surface-to-air missiles were in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - In response to news of a U.S. helicopter being downed in Iraq today, killing 15 soldiers and injuring 21, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said, "It was a bad day, a bad day, a tragic day for those people."

WASHINGTON - Fifteen U.S. soldiers were killed and 21 were wounded when a coalition helicopter went down near the city of Amiryah, Iraq, at about 9 a.m. local time today. This was the single deadliest attack on coalition forces since President Bush announced the end of major combat in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has given the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, about 38,000 pages of information, a senior defense official said here Oct. 31.

WASHINGTON - President Bush told the world in his radio address to the nation today that terrorists and Saddam Hussein's Baathist loyalists will not weaken the country's will, and the United States will not leave Iraq until the job he set out to do is done.