WASHINGTON - A Pakistani border guard shot and wounded a U.S. soldier Dec. 29 during an incident on the Afghan border with Pakistan, Joint Task Force180 officials said.

WASHINGTON - An American soldier in Afghanistan was wounded by hostile fire Dec. 29.

ABOARD THE USS MOUNT WHITNEY - Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa commander, Marine Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler, met with officials from Djibouti today at the CJTF-HOA headquarters aboard USS Mount Whitney in the Gulf of Aden.

WASHINGTON - North Korea's move to build nuclear weapons is "a matter of great concern" to the United States and that "all options are open," Secretary of State Colin Powell said Dec. 29.

WASHINGTON - American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division on a routine patrol in Afghanistan Dec. 26 reported finding a site previously used to fire rockets at a U.S. base near Khowst, Defense Department officials said.

WASHINGTON - The events surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were a shock to the nation and the world. Never in the previous half century had there been a more catastrophic and monumental series of events that would challenge the fabric and courage of the American people.

WASHINGTON - --Troops deployed within the U.S. Central Command area couldn't let their guard down just because it was Christmas. Military action in Iraq and Afghanistan kept the forces on their toes.

WASHINGTON - DoD's wish list for fiscal 2004 is only a couple of months from delivery. A senior defense department official recently previewed the department's strategy for the '04 budget: a focus on readiness and modernization -- investing in newer technologies, while divesting Cold-War era weapons systems.

WASHINGTON - Thieves made off with computer equipment and files from the Arizona office of a military health care contractor Dec. 14, gaining access to some clients' social security numbers, according to DoD's health care management organization.

WASHINGTON - A computerized system will eventually provide military physicians with fast, around- the-clock access to patient records anywhere in the world, a DoD health care official noted.

WASHINGTON - Senior DoD personnel officials think a different compensation system could be used to target pay to certain defense department civilians, much like the current military pay system provides extra money to some noncommissioned and commissioned officers.

WASHINGTON - An American Predator unmanned aerial vehicle was "assumed lost" today over southern Iraq, U.S. Central Command officials said.

WASHINGTON - DoD has made "great strides" in privatizing and upgrading military housing. And the current marker is to fix inadequate housing by 2007.

WASHINGTON - As the holiday season approaches, all Americans have much for which to be thankfulour liberty and economic prosperity are the envy of the world. These opportunities do not come freely - the steadfast dedication of our service men and women is essential in defending our way of life. This year, as in many past years, the performance of our duties again places the U.S. armed forces in harm's way.

WASHINGTON - American entertainment icon Bob Hope may be getting along in years - he's 99 now - but he continues his patriotic support of U.S. troops assigned stateside and deployed around the world.

WASHINGTON - Military officials in Bagram, Afghanistan, this morning reported U.S. forces killed one enemy and injured another in the firefight that killed an American soldier Dec. 21. Two other American soldiers in Afghanistan were injured the same day in separate incidents.

WASHINGTON - The message of the holiday season is peace on Earth. Yet, despite our best hopes, history shows that this season of peace has often been a time of war. And, this year, it is youthe men and women of the U.S. militarywho have been called upon to spend these holidays standing watch on the frontiers of freedom.

WASHINGTON - Defense Department leaders are working hard to make sure Saddam Hussein understands the United States means business, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - Military operations continue throughout the U.S. Central Command area of operations. Officials in Afghanistan and Iraq reported incidents.

WASHINGTON - Iraq's declaration that it has no weapons of mass destruction "totally fails" to meet the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Secretary of State Colin Powell said today.

WASHINGTON - When coalition forces ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan last year, U.S. officials estimated up to 8 million Afghans were in danger of starving or freezing to death.

WASHINGTON - A life insurance firm accused of defrauding service members today settled a civil complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Department.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said public officials owe Americans "an investment of time" to keep them abreast of the government's activities.

WASHINGTON - Jan. 1 will be a special day for service members and their families. That's when they'll start seeing more Basic Allowance for Housing money in their paychecks, according to DoD's director of compensation.

WASHINGTON - The Iraqi military is demoralized and not eager to engage American troops, according to U.S. intelligence assessments.

WASHINGTON - Two American soldiers and their Afghan translator were injured Dec. 17 when an attacker threw a grenade through the window of their vehicle in Kabul.

WASHINGTON - Four of the Defense Department's top leaders took to the microphone today to explain to a Pentagon audience exactly what they do.

WASHINGTON - DoD personnel are on the watch for possible bio-terrorism, scanning computer databases featuring outpatient treatment information gathered from more than 300 military hospitals and medical clinics worldwide.

WASHINGTON - The four undersecretaries of defense will participate in a Pentagon town hall issues forum Dec. 18 at 11 a.m. to focus on items of interest in their areas.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military has stepped up its information campaign to inform the Iraqi people and military forces of their leader's treachery and the consequences of supporting him.

WASHINGTON - Despite a few misfires and a ground-based booster system that's back on the drawing board, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency says he is confident the system "will work."

WASHINGTON - Members of the U.S. military were instrumental in tremendous advancements in Afghanistan, Iraq, NATO and the United States, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - The threat posed by Iraqi biological weapons is more serious today than U.S. forces faced in the Persian Gulf War.

WASHINGTON - Four Afghan children were killed and another three injured Dec. 14 at a training range run by the Afghan national army outside Kabul.

WASHINGTON - I send holiday greetings and salute our men and women who wear the uniform of our Armed Forces, serving our country with skill, honor, and dedication.

WASHINGTON - Coalition aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone in southern Iraq have struck Iraqi military sites three days running, according to U.S. Central Command officials.

WASHINGTON - Terrorism, Iraq and North Korea were the main topics of discussions here today between senior American and Japanese officials.

WASINGTON - President Bush today announced he has ordered smallpox vaccinations to begin for military personnel.

WASHINGTON - More than 400,000 military pharmacy mail order customers will be switched March 1, 2003, to a new TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy program, according to Army Col. William D. Davies of the TRICARE Management Activity, Falls Church, Va.

WASHINGTON - Pictures coming out of Afghanistan show a land seemingly forgotten by time -- and modern medicine. After 20 years of war, medical clinics and hospitals are in ruins and in dire need of basic medical supplies and equipment.

WASHINGTON - DoD has begun mandatory smallpox vaccinations of military personnel, according to the Department of Defense's top health official.

WASHINGTON - Too many people in the Middle East lack political and economic freedom and basic education for the region to be prosperous and stable, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Dec. 12.

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Adviser Tom Ridge said today the strategy for the president's smallpox vaccination plan is to immunize frontline troops who serve in high-threat areas and domestic emergency responders.

GULFPORT, Miss. - Some people's wildest life-long dreams never become reality. By her count, Marian Ditzler Powers' dream took 20,984 days to come true. She finally did what she'd been hankering to do since World War II -- jump out of an airplane!

WASHINGTON - Five soldiers died Dec. 11 when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Honduras, according to U.S. Southern Command officials.

DOHA, Qatar - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today answered questions from service members on everything from Iraqi compliance with U.N. resolutions to smallpox vaccinations to TRICARE during a town hall meeting here at the headquarters for Exercise Internal Look.

DOHA, Qatar - It was U.S. military transformation in the flesh at the As Saliyah pre- positioning camp here Dec. 12.

DOHA, Qatar - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today signed an implementation agreement on behalf of the United States with Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jasim al Thani.

WASHINGTON - When hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon last year, Air Force Capt. "Muhammad" had just left his office in the military headquarters known as "the building."

WASHINGTON - In defending the homeland, DoD has clear and defined responsibilities often very much separate from those of civil organizations, a senior Pentagon official noted here Dec. 10.

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti - In the beginning, there was a wreck.

WASHINGTON - For military and civilian personnel who don't have an extra $20,000 to spend on long-term health care and who can't count on their families to take care of them, now may be the time to sign up for the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program.

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld thanked the U.S. service members based here for their sense of duty. He said their service in the country on the Horn of Africa is important.

WASHINGTON - Although airport security efforts get the headlines, securing the nation's ports, waterways, coastline and land assets is just as important a part of the Transportation Security Administration's mission, a senior TSA official said today.

WASHINGTON - Charles S. Abell recently expressed a hearty "Thank you" to the man who established the annual Perspectives on Employment of Persons with Disability Conference.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and Chinese officials want to renew the two countries' military-to-military cooperation, which had been cut off since April 2001.

SOUDA BAY, Greece - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said his visit to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Qatar is an indication that the war on terror is global and an example of the new relationships the war is allowing nations to forge.

ASMARA, Eritrea - Following a meeting with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that the United States can learn much about combating terror from the people of this small African nation.

WASHINGTON - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has a vision for his country as a trading hub for Central Asia. The United States wants to help.

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey - The thrill of jockeying a high-performance fighter jet took on a new meaning recently for one F-16CJ pilot as she flew her first combat patrol in Operation Northern Watch.

WASHINGTON - Sorting through and integrating different computer information systems from the 22 agencies slated to comprise the new Department of Homeland Security presents "a challenge," the White House's chief Homeland Security information official said here today

WASHINGTON - Whoever unleashed the anthrax assaults that killed five people last year is most likely a trained biomedical technician.

BETHESDA, Md. - Not only is Debra L. Moose an outstanding cartographer, she's an outstanding person who believes in taking time to help others.

WASHINGTON - Solomon V. Rakhman can't talk without the help of a computer. He can't get around without his motorized wheelchair. But the severely disabled cerebral palsy victim is one smart, determined and personable guy with a winning smile that steals the heart of everyone who meets him.

WASHINGTON - Employment and retention of individuals with disabilities is a top priority in the Department of Defense. And DoD wants them to make their own decisions, fulfill their own goals and be rewarded and advanced on an equal footing with their nondisabled peers, said Ginger Groeber, deputy undersecretary of defense for civilian personnel policy.

WASHINGTON - Afghan villagers led American soldiers to a weapons cache near a U.S. firebase Dec. 7, defense officials said.

WASHINGTON - When U.S. and coalition air forces first launched attacks against terrorists and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a 10-person U.S. team based in Bahrain was critical to keeping the warplanes flying.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2002 - The year-old Transportation Security Administration first focused on ma - The year-old Transportation Security Administration first focused on making the skies safer for the American public after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but much more needs to be done, the agency's acting director said here today.

WASHINGTON - Former President George H.W. Bush told a Pentagon audience today that he's not a hero, despite flying off a carrier and having his plane shot down in the Pacific during World War II.

BETHESDA, Md. - DoD hires more people with disabilities than most other federal agencies, but Charles S. Abell said defense officials are not satisfied. They want to do better.

WASHINGTON - -- It is a tragic and chilling fact: the U.S. military loses the equivalent of a battalion of troops each year - not in combat, but in automobile accidents, transportation safety officials said at a news conference Nov. 25.

WASHINGTON - A large and growing number of nations around the globe have coalesced to disarm Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein -- by peaceful, or other, means, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz noted Dec. 4 at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department Dec. 5 warned Americans of a possible terrorist threat in Turkey.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department looks forward to helping the new Department of Homeland Security in any way it can, said Peter Verga, director of DoD's Homeland Defense Task Force.

WASHINGTON - War with the world or not, those are Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's choices, the president and defense secretary said today.

WASHINGTON - The threat of North Korean nuclear weapons and missile technology was the main topic of the 34th Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting, held here Dec. 4 and 5.

BETHESDA, Md. - Nashana M. Riley was in uniform when two devastating diseases struck her simultaneously and ended her budding Army career. But the setbacks didn't lessen her desire and determination to succeed in life.

WASHINGTON - Troops from the U.S. Central Command Headquarters in Tampa, Fla., may be in the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Qatar for only a few weeks, but they say they're "living large" while they're there.

WASHINGTON - On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Series driver Michael Waltrip remembers being on his tractor "just goofing off, digging dirt" at his home in North Carolina.

BETHESDA, Md. - Being born with a disability hasn't slowed Daniel J. Philbin's climb up the rungs of success in the Defense Department work force, quenched his thirst for knowledge or soured his sense of humor.

BETHESDA, Md. - When Richard Eddie Espinosa contracted polio at the age of 18 months, his parents were bombarded with advice to get him out of the family's home because he'd only be a vegetable, never live a normal life, never have a girlfriend, wife or children.

WASHINGTON - After 11 years of deceit and defiance, the world shouldn't trust Saddam Hussein now just because he appears to have cooperated with U.N. inspectors for five days, President Bush said this morning.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said today he is confident Turkey will play a significant part in any war against Iraq if Saddam Hussein doesn't dump his weapons of mass destruction.

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis pledged support Dec. 3 for U.S. and coalition efforts to separate Iraq from its weapons of mass destruction, but urged that all peaceful means be tried first before war.

WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda and Taliban sympathizers launched two hit-and-run attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan Dec. 2, DoD officials said today.

WASHINGTON - U.N. weapons inspectors are back on the job in Iraq only because the world presented a united front and increased pressure on Saddam Hussein, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today during a Pentagon press briefing.

WASHINGTON - An expanded electronic government - doing more "e- business" - is a cornerstone of President Bush's management agenda to improve government functions and performance.

WASHINGTON - The National Defense Authorization Act for 2003 funds the military portion of the global war on terror and the continuing transformation of the U.S. military to face the threats of the 21st century.

LONDON - Turkey's recent social reforms are moving it closer to the European fold and bolstering its economic and political standing in the world, a senior U.S. administration official said here today.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A senior U.S. administration official traveling with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz praised Turkey as one of the "most reliable allies" of the United States.

WASHINGTON - A B-52 Stratofortress dropped precision-guided munitions in support of U.S. special operations forces that came under attack Dec. 1 in Afghanistan.

LONDON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told members of a British "think tank" here today that although it's good that U.N. weapons inspectors are scouring Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, the primary goal is to disarm Saddam Hussein's regime.

WASHINGTON - President Bush used the occasion of signing the 2003 National Defense Authorization Act to chart the course of the war on terror and to tell a Pentagon crowd that Iraq's responses to date "are not encouraging."