WASHINGTON - With the suspension of the morale-boosting "Operation Dear Abby" and "Any Service Member" mail programs this year, defense officials are proposing other ways Americans can demonstrate their support for the military.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will depart for Moscow Nov. 2 to meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.

WASHINGTON - It takes more than just fighters and bombers to wage a successful air war, a senior DoD official said.

SPRINGFIELD, Va. - "I can tell every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine that it's our job to make sure that what comes from a contractor -- the food you eat, the clothing you wear, the weapon you shoot and the system you operate is quality and it's there on time," said Army Brig. Gen. Ed Harrington.

WASHINGTON - The United States is sensitive to allies' concerns, but it is unlikely to curtail the campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Oct. 30.

WASHINGTON - About 80 percent of the air campaign on Oct. 29 was directed against front-line Taliban and Al Qaeda forces, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Oct. 30.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Military postal officials have reluctantly ended the "Operation Dear Abby" and "Any Service Member" postal programs due to the anthrax threat.

WASHINGTON - A "modest" number of U.S. troops are on the ground supporting the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Oct. 30.

WASHINGTON - Forming a headquarters at the height of an international crisis is not the best way to do business, and the Quadrennial Defense Review suggested changing that situation.

WASHINGTON - DoD spokeswoman Victoria "Torie" Clarke held an impromptu Pentagon press briefing this morning to give reporters "the top line" of what happened in Afghanistan Sunday, what's being focused on today and to run down responses to rumors and speculations.

WASHINGTON - After three weeks of action in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the war on terrorism is going well and there has been measurable progress.

WASHINGTON - Many people believe the military has "its own way of doing things" and will never change. But DoD officials are trying to debunk that thought through a program that gains military officers hands-on experience in civilian corporations.

WASHINGTON - After years of Taliban propaganda, the Afghan people are hearing another voice.

WASHINGTON - Pointing out that the Al Qaeda terrorist network crosses more than 50 countries, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the task is to go after it, and the Taliban, "until Americans can go about their lives without fear."

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service made its special "United We Stand" stamp available Oct. 24 in areas where postal officials thought it would have the most meaning.

WASHINGTON - The dean of Washington National Cathedral came to the Pentagon Oct. 25 to give DoD charities more than $30,000.

WASHINGTON - DoD must make significant changes in the structure of the department to refocus on the homeland defense mission, Army Secretary Thomas White said before the Senate Armed Forces Committee Oct. 25.

WASHINGTON - Lockheed-Martin has won the largest military contract ever, a possible $200 billion competition to build the Joint Strike Fighter.

WASHINGTON - U.S. air forces continued to hammer front-line Taliban positions, Joint Staff spokesman Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem told Pentagon reporters Oct. 26.

WASHINGTON - Army Secretary Thomas E. White, wearing his hat as the Defense Department's executive agent for homeland security, today announced DoD is realigning resources to better address ongoing and possible future terrorist threats to the nation.

WASHINGTON - Since the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes in New York and Washington, many Americans have been calling for the military to do more for "homeland defense."

WASHINGTON - Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan are rolling out some age-old sleight-of-hand and propaganda tricks to hide their forces or to influence public opinion in their favor.

WASHINGTON - Tommy McFall was apprehensive when he walked into DoD's Family (Casualty) Assistance Center in Arlington, Va., two days after American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - The 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was outdated even before the events of Sept. 11, but the United States won't violate it to test a missile shield, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld answered media reports that said the United States might not get Osama bin Laden.

WASHINGTON - The war against terrorism is a new kind of war requiring different types of tactics, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said.

WASHINGTON - In the third week of fighting to oust Al Qaeda terrorists and their Taliban supporters in Afghanistan, a senior DoD official today said the conflict would be a prolonged effort requiring much patience.

WASHINGTON - "We are happy, eager and willing to do what we can to help seek out and destroy the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters during an Oct. 22 Pentagon press briefing.

WASHINGTON - New Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance rules effective Nov. 1 provide free coverage for troops' children and low-cost premiums for spousal coverage up to $100,000. But what if service members don't want spousal SGLI coverage?

WASHINGTON - Some active duty and reserve component troops may qualify under federal law for extra duty pays and benefits for their contributions in the war on terrorism.

WASHINGTON - Operation Enduring Freedom troops are being flooded with messages of love, caring, concern, appreciation and encouragement from home and abroad. And they don't have to worry about dealing with suspicious-looking mail.

WASHINGTON - Military mail destined overseas will get through, but it may be delayed, said Navy Capt. Eugene DuCom, deputy commander of the Military Postal Service Agency.

WASHINGTON - Even with the extraordinary care U.S. forces take to avoid hitting civilian targets, accidents happen.

WASHINGTON - U.S. forces are striking Al Qaeda "in its entirety," said Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for current readiness and capabilities at the Joint Staff.

WASHINGTON - "Everyone was distraught the day the tragedy happened because it brought back memories of what happened here on April 20, 1999," said Tania Atencio, assistant principal at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

WASHINGTON - Air Force Gen. Richard Myers wasn't in the Pentagon when terrorists attacked it Sept. 11, but the event was still a nightmare for him.

WASHINGTON - B-2 Spirit bomber pilots and support crews are carrying the fight for freedom directly to terrorists in their Afghan lairs, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told 509th Bomb Wing troops Oct. 19 at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.

WASHINGTON - Ground forces, including Army Rangers, operating under U.S. Central Command struck two terrorist sites inside Afghanistan Oct. 19, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed.

WASHINGTON - Fighting terrorism is the most important thing America's armed forces have been asked to do since World War II, the military's top officer said.

WASHINGTON - Defense Department officials refused during the Pentagon's daily press briefing today to confirm or deny the presence of U.S. Special Forces troops in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Intelligence Agency awarded the first Defense of Freedom Medals to the families of their civilian employees who died Sept. 11 in the attack on the Pentagon.

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - Amid news reports that U.S. ground troops are aiding anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld flew to this Missouri air base today to meet B-2 Spirit bomber pilots and support crews.

WASHINGTON - DoD will look at ways to kick- start U.S. production of anthrax vaccine that, up to now, has been manufactured by just one company in Michigan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and allied air strikes against terrorist targets in Afghanistan are having continued effect on terrorists, said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

WASHINGTON - Army Maj. Gen. Sue B. Dueitt was rushing through the Pentagon to attend a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for a soldier killed in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon when three men stopped her.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. is using power in ways today that military tacticians never thought of before. And it's all aimed at reaching the nation's objectives of destroying the instruments of power the Taliban uses to support Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network, said Navy Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem.

WASHINGTON - Men and women in uniform are the true strength of the United States, President George W. Bush told troops and their families Oct. 17.

WASHINGTON - Coalition military forces have dropped "well over 2,000" munitions in more than a week of aerial strikes on Al Qaeda and Taliban sites in Afghanistan, but U.S. military officials caution against using these numbers to "keep score" in the war on terrorism.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - It started as a way to raise awareness, it continued as a mission to let those in New York and at the Pentagon know that America cares for them.

WASHINGTON - A group of former defense secretaries signed a letter to Congress calling for another round of base closures.

WASHINGTON - In a wide-ranging interview with Arab television, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today explained the U.S. position in the war on terrorism and directly addressed many concerns many Muslims have about U.S. actions.

WASHINGTON - U.S. military forces dropped another 68,000 humanitarian ration packs into Afghanistan over the weekend, bringing to more than 275,000 the total delivered since military operations began in that country a week ago, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - The United States is the "irreplaceable bulwark" of freedom in the world, the Italian prime minister said at the Pentagon today.

FORT MYER, Va. - President Bush today repeated his Oct. 11 promise that service members will have every resource they need to defeat global terrorism.

WASHINGTON - About 25 U.S. military planes struck Taliban and terrorist targets in Afghanistan yesterday, as the military campaign against global terrorism enters its second week.

WASHINGTON - "Oh, my God, I didn't know that Kevin got killed!" Karen Saunders exclaimed.

WASHINGTON - DoD has suspended its requirement that services track deployment days and pay $100 per day to troops who are deployed more than 400 days in any two-year period.

WASHINGTON - How do you airdrop desperately needed food rations to Afghan refugees without the payload falling into the wrong hands or crushing the recipients?

WASHINGTON - Imagine huge, four-engine American military jets streaking over the embattled skies of Afghanistan ... dropping a payload of food instead of bombs.

WASHINGTON - Military members and DoD civilians who desire to contribute to this year's Combined Federal Campaign can locate appropriate charitable organizations with the click of a computer mouse.

WASHINGTON - DoD aggressively treats drug and alcohol abuse in family members and retirees as well as active duty service members.

WASHINGTON - It feels like a year since September 11 rather than a month. The longest day was September 11 itself.

ARLINGTON, Va. - "Wow"! "Look at the dogs!" Melvina Brown, 5, exclaimed as she rushed to pet a "therapy dog" at DoD's Family (Casualty) Assistance Center here. Her little brother, Robert Russell III, 2, eagerly followed.

WASHINGTON - The huge American flag that hung to the right of the damaged area of the Pentagon was lowered Oct. 11 and folded with full military honors.

ARLINGTON, Va. - Overcome with grief and plagued by the agony of the unknown, Lillian Lightbourn rushed from Rochester, N.Y., to Virginia. Crying and praying all the way, her sole wish was that her sister would be found alive in the rubble of the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - Men and women, officers and enlisted, military and civilian alike shuddered and wiped away tears as the names of those killed in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon Sept. 11 scrolled along giant screens to the haunting strains of "Amazing Grace" during the Oct. 11 memorial service at the military's scarred headquarters.

WASHINGTON - Defense Department family members were truly "United in Memory" Oct. 11 as they remembered friends and co-workers lost in the attack on the Pentagon one month ago.

WASHINGTON - The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act will lower military members' mortgage interest to 6 percent -- but only if the loan existed before the member came on active duty.

WASHINGTON - "The United States does not target civilians," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said when asked for comment about Taliban charges that the U.S. military was wantonly killing civilians in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - As military strikes continue against the Al Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban in Afghanistan, President Bush made clear that terrorists in other countries also have been targeted.

WASHINGTON - President Bush unveiled the "World's Most Wanted Terrorist List" Oct. 10 during a ceremony at the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover Building here.

WASHINGTON - The Navy will dedicate a memorial at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 12 to the 17 sailors killed a year ago in a terrorist attack on the destroyer USS Cole.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon will honor its military and civilian personnel killed and wounded during the Sept. 11 terrorist strike on the building.

WASHINGTON - NATO has sent five of its Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft from Germany to Oklahoma in a historic first.

WASHINGTON - The war against terrorism has intervened, but the answers to questions posed to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during an Aug. 9 Town Hall meeting in the Pentagon have debuted on DefenseLink.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Central Command officials have asked that Afghanistan, its airspace and the seas near it be declared a combat zone, DoD officials said Oct. 9.

WASHINGTON - On Sept. 24, the president launched the first strike in the global war against terrorism by attacking the financial foundations of terrorist operations around the globe. Today, the United States launched the second.

WASHINGTON - U.S. aircraft and Tomahawk cruise missiles hit 85 percent of their 31 targets during the first two days of strikes against the Al Qaeda terrorist network and Taliban support structure inside Afghanistan, DoD officials said today.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - Some Afghans have food today thanks in part to the efforts of roughly 66 soldiers and airmen.

WASHINGTON - National Guard and Reserve members called to active duty are being offered free 30-day membership use of Bally Total Fitness centers nationwide.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - The two U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transports that delivered about 35,000 Humanitarian Daily Rations over Afghanistan early Oct. 8 marked the first U.S. military airdrop of relief aid to the region and the first operational use of a new airdrop system.

WASHINGTON - Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge today became the nation's first director of the newly created Homeland Security Office.

WASHINGTON - All U.S. aircraft participating in attacks on Afghanistan Oct. 7 returned to their bases safely, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the day's missions a success.

WASHINGTON - "Like being a football player at the Super Bowl" is how one Air Force bombardier described being part of the initial wave of offensive strikes in America's war on terrorism.

WASHINGTON - Most civilian police officers, including Tim Hall of Albuquerque, N.M., come to grips with the idea of not always being welcome when they step into people's lives. But Hall is witnessing something uniquely different at his city's airport as a security forces supervisor in the New Mexico Air National Guard.

WASHINGTON - Air strikes against Taliban- held targets in Afghanistan continue, senior DoD officials said early this afternoon at the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - In addition to attacking the Taliban regime and terrorist facilities in Afghanistan today, U.S. air operations include the delivery of some 37,000 Humanitarian Daily Rations to Afghan refugees.

WASHINGTON - Aircraft and Tomahawk missiles hammered terrorist targets in Afghanistan, DoD officials said in a Pentagon press conference today.

WASHINGTON - America is striking back.

WASHINGTON - Even before the first of 37,000 humanitarian daily rations began floating down to Afghan refugees, the United States was the largest foreign aid donor to the people of Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar provided the Defense Department $1 million today to be used to assist families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told senators that even as the war on terrorism continues, the U.S. military needs to transform to face the threats of the new century.

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan - Uzbekistan agreed Oct. 5 to allow American forces to use an airfield here and to use Uzbek air space.

CAIRO - Egypt has had its share of problems with terrorists.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze pledged mutual support in the fight against global terrorism at an Oct. 5 Pentagon news conference.

CAIRO - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met today with the Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Sa'id Al Sa'id.

WASHINGTON - The Marines will stand up an anti-terrorism brigade Oct. 10 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Corps officials said Oct. 4.

WASHINGTON - U.S. military forces have been on the move since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon, said a defense official.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - U.S. and Saudi officials put on a united front here early Oct. 4 to dispel rumors that Saudi Arabia had denied a U.S. request to launch air strikes from the desert kingdom.

WASHINGTON - President Bush announced today the creation of a $320 million humanitarian assistance package for the people of Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - "Islam is peace," President Bush said. And the United States is not against the religion of Islam, he stresses, but those who pervert the religion to support terrorism and mass murder.

WASHINGTON - The search for remains in the debris at the Sept. 11 airliner crash site at the Pentagon has ended. The FBI has stopped sifting through debris looking for evidence and remains, however, more than a third of the victims of the terrorist attack are still unaccounted for, according to Defense Department officials.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he's "been struck" by the support and assistance countries around the world offered immediately after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in the United States.

WASHINGTON - Michael J. Aguilar was in the seventh grade when he decided he wanted to be a military pilot and fly combat missions. Only part of his youthful plan came true.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is not visiting the Middle East to negotiate basing or fly-over rights for U.S. troops in the war on terrorism, but to "solidify relationships."

WASHINGTON - In 14 years as the Army's Combined Federal Campaign administrator, Meta Waller raised more than $30 million, DoD officials said.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is on a mission to the Middle East, his first trip there since taking office earlier this year.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon's chief renovation official said Oct. 2 that repairs on the building stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack might take more than three years to complete.

WASHINGTON - Two Pentagon civilian employees have been breaking into safes and moving some "hot paper" in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attack on the Defense Department's headquarters.

WASHINGTON - A recently completed NATO peacekeeping mission in Macedonia, Task Force Essential Harvest, was a total success, DoD officials said.

WASHINGTON - The size of the U.S. military will remain about the same, but portions will be reconfigured to combat asymmetrical threats, according to the Quadrennial Defense Review released to Congress Sept. 30.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is being inundated by e-mail, cards, letters and posters, all filled with an outpouring of sympathy and concern for victims and loved ones of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, according to Janice Simms of the Defense Public Inquiry and Analysis Office.

FORT MYER, Va. - "The Ballad of the Green Berets" played as Army Gen. Henry Shelton reviewed the troops for the last time.

ARLINGTON, Va. - TRICARE for Life kicked off on schedule Oct. 1, adding 1.5 million new beneficiaries to the military's healthcare system.

WASHINGTON - They came from across North Carolina to sweat over huge steaming pots of beef stew, fresh green beans and a slew of other culinary delights to feed rescue and recovery workers at the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - The United States will "disintegrate" the Al Qaeda terrorist network, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sept. 30.