WASHINGTON - U.S. and Philippine defense and foreign affairs leaders held the nations’ first “two-plus-two” meeting amid the rise of common challenges and the growing security and economic importance of the Asia-Pacific region.

WASHINGTON - First Lady Michelle Obama and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among those who paid tribute to wounded warrior athletes at the opening of the 2012 Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama praised the U.S. military and intelligence communities as he reflected on the approaching one-year anniversary of the mission that killed al-Qaida leader and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

WASHINGTON - Standing alongside Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda at a White House news conference, U.S. President Barack Obama referred to Japan as “one of America's closest allies in the Asia-Pacific region” and around the world.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met with Italian Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola at the Pentagon, where the two discussed mutual defense interests such as the upcoming NATO summit, Afghanistan and the Arab Spring.

WASHINGTON - An Afghan-led and coalition-supported security force detained a Taliban facilitator, detained two additional insurgents and seized weapons in the Daman district of Kandahar province.

FORT MEADE, Md. - As they turn on their TV sets anywhere in the world, military members and their families have access to multiple channels of live American TV programming. And in many ways, they have Melvin Russell to thank for that.

WASHINGTON - Core al-Qaida – the group led by Osama bin Laden – has been surpassed by its affiliates as the biggest terrorist threat to the United States, a senior intelligence official said.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama dedicated his weekly Saturday radio and video address to describing the advantages of a new executive order designed to crack down on bad actors who prey on service members and veterans considering higher education.

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT - The United States has become a safer place since a Navy SEAL team killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan compound nearly a year ago, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said.

ARLINGTON, Va. - In honor of Arbor Day and to pay respects to U.S. service members, officials planted five oak tree saplings at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

BETHESDA, Md. - Each month, severely injured service members are being fitted with life enhancing, state-of-the-art prosthetic devices produced at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama, visited with 3rd Infantry Division soldiers at Fort Stewart, Ga., and discussed a new executive order that helps to safeguard military education benefits and protect service members from predatory schools.

WASHINGTON - Army, Navy and Air Force leaders detailed plans for total force readiness and service member support when they briefed a Senate committee on budget requests for next year.

WASHINGTON - Two nominees, who if confirmed will have a wide range of defense responsibilities between them, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that American leadership is essential to global security efforts.

GRANTHAM, Pa. - More than a dozen Pennsylvania Army National Guard members volunteered to help athletes at the 2012 Special Olympics Area M Games at Messiah College.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta will meet with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario and Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin on April 30 to discuss the alliance between the two nations.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition security forces have captured a Haqqani leader during an operation in the Nadir Shah Kot district of Khost province. The leader was responsible for planning and directing attacks against Afghan and coalition troops throughout the district, officials said.

WASHINGTON - A joint statement of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee spells out unit moves, land and facilities on Okinawa that the United States will return to the Japanese government, and the costs each government will pay for the relocation.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. - The secretary of the Army announced plans to reactivate the 7th Infantry Division and stand up its headquarters on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

WASHINGTON - Many of the focus areas outlined in the nation’s defensive strategic guidance, released in January, go beyond Asia-Pacific and pertain to the Horn of Africa, a senior defense official said.

SANTIAGO, Chile - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta discussed various issues, ranging from drug trafficking to cyber security, with Chile's president and defense minister during a visit to the country's captial of Santiago. Panetta's visit to the country was his first as defense secretary.

WASHINGTON - The new U.S. strategy was a common element in all three stops of a six-day overseas trip the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded.

FORT MEADE, Md. - Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is set to stand trial beginning Sept. 21, 2012, to face charges that he leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents in what’s believed to be the largest intelligence leak in U.S. history.

WASHINGTON - Defense officials are assessing what U.S. national security role they are called upon to perform in Yemen, Navy Capt. John Kirby, the deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for media operations, told reporters.

SILVER SPRING, Md. - Navy medical researchers are conducting their first human clinical trial for a vaccine to protect U.S. troops from dengue, a potentially deadly mosquito-transmitted virus found in tropical and subtropical regions.

WASHINGTON - Policy changes announced in February opening more than 14,000 new assignments to women in uniform will take effect May 14, 2012, Defense Department officials confirmed in a Pentagon press release.

JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. - Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew Skvarna, an instructor loadmaster with the 17th Airlift Squadron, 437th Airlift Wing, said pinning on his aircrew wings, lacing up his combat boots and boarding a military aircraft is a family legacy 70 years in the making.

WASHINGTON - Afghan and coalition security forces captured an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan facilitator, killed one insurgent and detained two other insurgents during an operation in Wardak province.

RIO DE JANEIRO - On the second day of his first official visit to Brazil, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta addressed a war college audience, watched an amphibious assault demonstration by Brazilian Marines, and paid tribute to Brazil’s fallen heroes of World War II.

BRUSSELS - Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other military leaders from NATO and partner nations discussed the present and future of the effort in Afghanistan during the first day of a conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

WASHINGTON - Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has ordered the directors of joint military education institutions and combatant commanders to examine the scope and content of training and education courses dealing with Islamic extremism to ensure they are appropriate and in keeping with U.S. values and principles.

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. - Air Force 2nd Lt. Ben Garland is trading his gold bars for the chance at an NFL career as he prepares to attend tryouts for the Denver Broncos professional football team.

WASHINGTON - The relationship between the United States and Brazil is between two global powers, and American officials welcome the warming ties with the South American powerhouse, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said at Brazil’s Superior War College in Rio de Janeiro.

WASHINGTON - Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, joined Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Newport News, Va., to highlight efforts to help school children from military families.

WASHINGTON - The United States is part of a successful effort to help counter the Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa, but a four-pillared approach to neutralizing the terrorist group must continue, senior defense, diplomatic and aid officials told a Senate panel.

WASHINGTON - An Afghan-led security force killed Namat, a Haqqani leader, during an operation conducted in the Nadir Shah Kot district of Khost province. Namat had organized roadside bombings and other attacks against Afghan and coalition forces throughout the district, officials said.

BRUSSELS - Danish Army Gen. Knud Bartels, chairman of NATO’s military committee, reaffirmed the alliance’s commitment to Afghanistan in remarks opening a conference of defense chiefs at NATO headquarters in Brussels. U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is representing the United States at the meetings.

BRASILIA, Brazil - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim conducted the first U.S.-Brazil Defense Cooperation Dialogue, an initiative recently established in Washington, D.C., by U.S. President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama today recognized a Defense Department teacher for the first time as a finalist in the National Teacher of the Year competition.

FORT MEADE, Md. - A motion hearing in the case against Army Pfc. Bradley Manning began on Fort Meade, Md. The soldier is charged with allegedly leaking hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

WASHINGTON - The Afghan national security forces have made tremendous progress, but still require U.S. aid, instruction and capabilities, said Marine Corps Maj. Gen. John A. Toolan, the commander of the 2nd Marine Division and former commander in Afghanistan’s Regional Command—South West.

WASHINGTON - Pakistani safe havens add to the difficulty in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, and corruption also retards progress there, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. John A. Toolan, commander of the 2nd Marine Division and the former commander of Regional Command-South West, told the Defense Writers’ Group.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has begun a new effort to better integrate defense intelligence with the broader intelligence community and make the department a better, more versatile organization, Navy Capt. John Kirby, the deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for media operations, told reporters.

WASHINGTON - Afghan and coalition forces captured multiple insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, including three who were leaders in the Taliban and Haqqani networks.

BRUSSELS - Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was especially impressed by his recent visit to NATO Training Mission Afghanistan’s Special Forces Training Center and is encouraged by what he saw and heard there.

BRUSSELS - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will meet with his NATO counterparts and the defense chiefs of partner nations in a two-day conference that begins tomorrow at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, got a firsthand look at results NATO Training Mission Afghanistan has achieved during a visit to the Special Forces Training Center at Camp Morehead in Kabul, Afghanistan.

BOGOTA, Colombia - After a meeting with Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta promised the U.S. military partner of 60 years continued commitment and assistance.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama praised the Defense Department’s senior leaders for issuing new policies designed to combat sexual assault in the military.

WASHINGTON - Senior Defense Department officials said they hope more service members who are victims of sexual assault report the crimes as a result of a policy change recently announced by Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta.

WASHINGTON - All of the active components and five of the six reserve components met or exceeded their fiscal 2012 recruiting goals through March, Pentagon officials reported.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and Afghan officials are studying a tentative agreement on a strategic partnership post-2014, White House and Defense Department officials announced.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama announced a strategy to strengthen the U.S. government’s ability to foresee, prevent, and respond to genocide and mass atrocities, and extended U.S. troops’ efforts to do just that in Central Africa.

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT - Latin America figures prominently in the Pentagon’s new defense strategy as an increasingly capable region that shares common challenges with the United States, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said on the first day of his trip there.

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - As an expert marksman and high school air rifle team coach, Gunnery Sgt. Joshua A. Peterson shows his commitment to his craft both as a member of the Marine Corps Shooting Team and as a mentor to area youth.

WASHINGTON - An Afghan and coalition security force captured several insurgents during an operation to capture a senior Haqqani facilitator in the Baraki Barak district of Logar province.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta began a trip to South America, where he will meet over the next week with military officials in Colombia, Brazil and Chile, to discuss cooperation and security issues.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will focus on progress in Afghanistan’s national security forces during a visit to the country.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with his counterpart in Jordan’s capital of Amman before flying to Afghanistan for the second leg of an overseas trip.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff paid a surprise visit to wounded warriors at an aeromedical staging facility on Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

AMMAN, Jordan - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff arrived in Amman, Jordan, to visit his Jordanian counterpart and to meet with officials at the U.S. Embassy.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama cheered for 22 wounded warriors taking part in a Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride, calling it “one of the most inspiring events” to take place at the White House.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Defense announced a new policy that will promote more teleworking across the civilian workforce. The new policy will help the department achieve greater flexibility in managing its workforce, officials said.

LANDSTUHL, Germany - A five-year-old boxer and her bad knees motivated more than 100 people to donate blood at a drive held last month at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Germany.

WASHINGTON - Defense Department officials said the four International Security Assistance Force members killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan were Americans.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will add about 1,600 clinicians and nearly 300 support staff to its mental health workforce, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced.

WASHINGTON - Four International Security Assistance Force service members died in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan. Military officials report that the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

ARLINGTON, Va. - National Guard and reserve component service members have nominated 133 of their civilian-life employers as semifinalists for a Defense Department award that recognizes outstanding support for the citizen soldiers and airmen who work for them.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta’s order last year for the Defense Department to conduct a full budget audit in 2014 is pushing the department at all levels to become audit-ready sooner than it otherwise would have, DOD’s chief financial officer told a Senate subcommittee.

WASHINGTON - Exercise Foal Eagle – an annual training exercise involving U.S. and South Korean forces – allows service members from each country to work together in defense of the Korean peninsula.

WASHINGTON - “Today we pause to remember and honor 6 million souls who were murdered not because of anything they had done, but because of who they were,” Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said during a Holocaust Remembrance Day event at the Pentagon.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - Service members and families shared heartfelt moments as the final leg of the USO's spring tour, hosted by Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stopped at Germany's Ramstein Air Base.

WASHINGTON - Six days after North Korea’s failed long-range rocket launch, the head of the Defense Department’s Missile Defense Agency testified on Capitol Hill about bolstering U.S. defenses against a growing ballistic missile threat.

WASHINGTON - Syria is in the midst of a tense, fluid and dangerous time, and the U.S. military stands ready to do whatever mission the president and Congress assign to it, top Defense Department leaders told the House Armed Services Committee.

WASHINGTON - Sidewinder, a rock band from the St. Louis-based 571st Missouri Air National Guard, was honored by an invitation from First Lady Michelle Obama to perform at the White House in honor of the first anniversary of the Joining Forces initiative

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition forces killed 13 insurgents and captured six suspects during operations in eastern Afghanistan.

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. - Military doctors are examining shrapnel taken from service members and veterans, looking for depleted uranium and other metals in hopes of improving care for wounded warriors.

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Nearly 400 excited troops, mainly U.S. Marines, packed a hangar to meet the USO's latest volunteer group of talented singers, performers and entertainment personalities at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - The world is full of threats, and the United States must be prepared for them, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview in Brussels.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department’s fiscal 2013 budget request maintains science and technology spending in accordance with President Barack Obama’s strategic guidance for a smaller, leaner, more flexible and agile military, the Pentagon’s head of research and engineering told a Senate subcommittee.

WASHINGTON - Officials from the Defense and State departments released a report that urges Congress to move communications and some remote-sensing satellites off the tightly controlled U.S. Munitions List and into the commercial enterprise.

WASHINGTON - Air Force Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog, director of the department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, saluted DOD’s sexual assault response coordinators, saying they treat all victims with dignity and respect and are tireless advocates for the victims of these crimes.

WASHINGTON - Over the past 20 months, the Army has been working to refine the way it tracks and treats the most common form of battlefield brain injuries -- concussion, also called mild traumatic brain injury.

WASHINGTON - With $633 million and 472 active research projects on traumatic brain injury alone, the Army is driving the science behind this neglected public health problem that affects everyone from kids on the sports field to injured service members.

WASHINGTON - When the Army began its Community Covenant program four years ago, few could have imagined the grassroots momentum that would take hold, or the effect if would have for families across the services.

WASHINGTON - Sesame Workshop’s resources and outreach have done more to help families cope with repeated deployments during a decade of war than anything the military could have done alone, said Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

BRUSSELS - There's a clear sense among alliance nations of NATO’s ongoing commitment to the mission in Afghanistan up to and beyond 2014, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

WASHINGTON - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who provided remarks at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors organization's annual gala, said TAPS allows Americans to show their love and appreciation for the sacrifices military families make.

CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti - Air Force Tech. Sgt. Gregory Spiker received recognition for his weather forecasting skills by earning two prestigious awards.

SOUTHWEST ASIA - Celebrities participating in the USO's spring tour got a firsthand look at U.S. Air Forces Central's Combined Air and Space Operations Center in Southwest Asia.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition forces killed one insurgent and detained five suspects during operations in eastern Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta strongly rejects the conduct depicted in 2010 photos of soldiers posing with corpses of insurgent suicide bombers in Afghanistan, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.

BRUSSELS - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen emphasized support to Afghanistan beyond 2014 in remarks opening a conference of the alliance’s defense and foreign ministers in Brussels.

SOUTHWEST ASIA - Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his “Vice Squad,” took part in the latest USO tour to entertain service members overseas as its fourth stop brought morale and high spirits to wounded warriors and other troops serving in Southwest Asia,

BRUSSELS - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta arrived in Brussels for the NATO “jumbo” ministerial conference, where the alliance’s defense and foreign ministers are scheduled to discuss Afghanistan security transition and alliance capabilities.

WASHINGTON - The USNS Mercy’s upcoming deployment as part of the Pacific Partnership medical exercise personifies the “whole of government” approach to diplomacy and military-to-military relations, said Navy Capt. James Morgan, the exercise’s commander.

WASHINGTON - Army Spc. 4 Leslie H. Sabo Jr., a rifleman with the 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam War, will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor in a May 16 ceremony, White House officials announced.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE EDINBURGH, Afghanistan - Afghanistan-deployed U.S. Navy Seaman Grant Reeder, a hospitalman, decided to join the sea service as a tribute to his late uncle, a Navy veteran, whose stories of deployment influenced him as a young man.

NAVAL AIR STATION NAPLES, Italy - USO tours made to entertain service members and their families show the nation's gratitude for its troops, U.S. Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Italy while accompanying a USO troupe during its spring overseas tour.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A combined Afghan and coalition security force called in an airstrike that killed several insurgents in the Nerkh district of Wardak province. Insurgents were observed setting up a heavy machine gun near a village while preparing to attack Afghan security forces, officials said.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon’s top civilian and military leaders took their campaign to stop sexual assault in the military to Capitol Hill, where they announced new initiatives to combat the problem.

WASHINGTON - Challenges will continue in Afghanistan, but the response to recent attacks points to the maturation of Afghan security forces, U.S. defense leaders said.

WASHINGTON - The shadow of sequestration is being cast over the Defense Department, and members of Congress must act to dissipate it, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said.

WASHINGTON - A few terrorist attacks does not make recent combat in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul the “Taliban Tet Offensive,” George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told Pentagon reporters.

WASHINGTON - Afghan forces responded to a series of attacks in the Afghan capital of Kabul and in a few outlying provinces. Consisting primarily of rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire, the attacks were largely ineffective, International Security Assistance Force officials said.

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Three Marine Corps logistics noncommissioned officers employ their friendship and supply expertise in serving their fellow Marines in Afghanistan.

AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy - U.S. Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is traveling with a USO troupe to bring a taste of home to troops stationed throughout Europe and Southwest Asia.

WASHINGTON - With the release of an annual report on sexual assault in the military, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta vowed to continue fighting to stamp out the crime among service members.

WASHINGTON - First Lady Michelle Obama shared a pleasant surprise about her veteran and military spouse hiring initiative during a stop in Shreveport, La.

WASHINGTON - Service members and Defense Department civilian employees who are eligible for the Thrift Savings Plan will soon have a new Roth option for retirement savings under the program, defense finance officials announced.

WASHINGTON - First Lady Michelle Obama highlighted the shared sacrifices of military children while meeting with the teenage daughters of service members in Jacksonville, Fla.

WASHINGTON - If happiness dwells in the soul, as the ancient Greeks believed, then Marine Corps Cpl. Michael “Mikey” Raymundo is a prime example.

WASHINGTON - A combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban leader who was planning a suicide attack against an upcoming gathering of Afghan civilians in Kunduz province.

WASHINGTON - The world today is less violent but also more dangerous than at any other time in human history, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Harvard University audience.

WASHINGTON - U.S. systems detected and tracked a launch of a North Korean TaepoDong-2 missile and determined that “at no time were the missile or resulting debris a threat,” officials said.

FORT MEADE, Md. - The chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said reformed military commissions provide the protections of the U.S. Constitution and will follow the procedures of U.S. federal courts and military courts martials.

WASHINGTON - Senior Pentagon officials are working to determine how the centuries-old Law of Armed Conflict applies to potential conduct of operations in the newest military domain of the Internet.

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - A 101st Airborne Division soldier received the nation’s second-highest military honor in a ceremony on Fort Campbell, Ky., for saving the lives of other soldiers in a firefight in Afghanistan in 2010 despite the fact that he, too, was wounded.

WASHINGTON - Lessons of U.S. Civil War history were brought to life in the Pentagon during the first of a series of historical presentations to be delivered to interested audiences in the U.S. military’s headquarters.

WASHINGTON - A special tactics officer received the Air Force Cross for his heroic actions in a 2010 battle in Afghanistan, controlling the air space and calling in airstrikes during the battle, to get his team out of the kill zone.

WASHINGTON - A military judge has given defense lawyers an extension to May 1 to provide a theory of the case in the United States vs. Abd al-Rahim Hussein Mohammed Abdu al-Nashiri.

WASHINGTON - The nation has been stepping up in “amazing ways” to support military families over the past year, First Lady Michelle Obama told the audience of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report."

WASHINGTON - Three South Dakota National Guard brothers currently are serving in simultaneous overseas deployments.

WASHINGTON - The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff paid tribute to outgoing National Defense University President Navy Vice Adm. Ann E. Rondeau as a natural leader who has paved the way for many other women in the service.

FORT MEADE, Md. - A military judge ruled that a defendant in the USS Cole bombing may meet with his defense attorneys unfettered and also deferred several other defense motions in the case of Abd al-Rahim Hussein Mohammed Abdu al-Nashiri at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

WASHINGTON - First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, marked the one-year anniversary of the "Joining Forces" campaign by celebrating the individuals and organizations that have stepped up in “extraordinary ways” to improve military families’ lives.

WASHINGTON - First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden announced a major pledge by the nation’s nursing community to better understand the unique health needs of service members, veterans, and their families, and to reach out to provide treatment wherever it is needed.

WASHINGTON - The world’s economic prospects, human rights goals and hopes for peace center on the Asia-Pacific region, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said during her Forrestal Lecture address to midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban leader in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province. The leader was responsible for coordinating roadside-bomb attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in the Zharay and Panjwai districts, officials said.

KABUL, Afghanistan - For Afghanistan-deployed Air Force Maj. Mark Melin, the son of a soldier, grandson of a World War II sailor and the third of three military brothers, commissioning in the Air Force was like joining the family business.

WASHINGTON - Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and Deanie Dempsey, wife of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, honored the winners of the Joining Forces Community Challenge for their efforts to improve military families’ lives during a roundtable discussion at the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is moving beyond its traditional treaty allies to expand partnerships in cyberspace and is working toward long-term goals of collective cyber self-defense and deterrence, a senior defense official said.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Afghan Interior Minister Bishmullah Muhammadi Khan met at the Pentagon and discussed the status of Afghan forces and plans for their future training.

WASHINGTON - An Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban facilitator in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province. The facilitator trained and equipped insurgents throughout the northern part of the province.

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Through hard work, perseverance and a bit of luck, Capt. George Okorodudu made his way from a poverty-stricken village in Nigeria to a commission in the U.S. Air Force.

WASHINGTON - A memorandum of understanding between the United States and Afghanistan on special operations acknowledges the paradigm shift occurring in the country, a senior Pentagon spokesman said.

WASHINGTON - As First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden mark the first anniversary of their “Joining Forces” campaign, the two say they will continue to solidify its successes so a structured effort to help military families is a permanent part of American culture.

WASHINGTON - A special operations agreement signed by U.S. and Afghan officials signifies how Afghans are taking on more security responsibility for their country, George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told Pentagon reporters.

WASHINGTON - An Afghan and coalition security force seized more than 2 tons of a roadside-bomb ingredient and detained several suspected insurgents in the Zurmat district of Afghanistan’s Paktia province.

GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Army Warrant Officer Weldon Malbrough Jr. is one of three soldier siblings in his family currently serving in Afghanistan.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, and Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak signed a memorandum of understanding that means Afghan special operations units will take the lead on special operations in the Afghanistan.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - A senior Navy officer expressed his concern for the community and thanked emergency responders following the crash in Virginia Beach, Va., of a two-seater F/A-18D Hornet aircraft assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 106.

WASHINGTON - First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden announced the winners of the Joining Forces Community Challenge, an effort to recognize the efforts of citizens and organizations across the country that work to improve the lives of military families.

NORFOLK, Va. - An F/A-18D Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 106 at Naval Air Station Oceana crashed in Virginia Beach, Va. Initial reports indicate that the jet crashed shortly after takeoff and that both crew members ejected safely.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WHITEHOUSE, Afghanistan - Despite receiving a nasty wound from an enemy's bullet last year in Afghanistan, Navy Petty Officer Third Class Chase Speed returned to his corpsman's duties after just a two-week recuperation period.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan and coalition security force captured an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan facilitator during an operation in the Kishim district of Badakhshan province. Officials said the facilitator coordinated the construction of suicide-bomb vests and directed suicide attacks.

ARLINGTON, Va. - From a 9-year-old blogger to a 17-year-old community-service volunteer, children from military families took center stage during Operation Homefront’s 2012 Military Child of the Year awards gala.

WASHINGTON - More than any other military service, people have viewed the U.S. Air Force as an innovative organization and the pieces are in place to continue that legacy, Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley told the Defense Writers Group.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is closely monitoring the prospect of a long-range rocket launch this month by North Korea, George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told Pentagon reporters.

WASHINGTON - Economic and diplomatic sanctions are “biting” Iran, but Iranian government leaders can stop the pain by ending their nuclear weapons program, George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told Pentagon reporters.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department’s move to deploy U.S. combat ships to Singapore and raise the level of joint exercises will deepen the bilateral military relationship, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said in a joint statement.

WASHINGTON - The commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan condemned an improvised explosive device attack that killed three ISAF service members, four members of the Afghan security forces and six civilians.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JACKSON, Afghanistan - Marine Corps chefs work hard to provide hot, nutritious meals to their fellow Afghanistan-deployed Marines at Forward Operating Base Jackson.

WASHINGTON - Flag is Up Farms in California, offers a free, three-day intensive horse therapy program to military veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.

BETHESDA, Md. - The first ladies of the United States and the U.S. military helped to observe Easter and the Month of the Military Child by visiting children and their families at a Fisher House on the campus of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

WASHINGTON - The strategic “reset” of relations between the United States and Russia is gradually bringing results, Celeste A. Wallander, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia policy, said.

WASHINGTON - The loss of a limb didn't seem to have an effect on the play of soldiers and Marines who make up the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team as they soundly thumped a Washington-area celebrity team made up of sports legends, broadcasters and the D.C. mayor.

WASHINGTON - First Lady Michelle Obama announced a new hiring effort in which 11 companies have pledged to deliver thousands of portable, flexible job opportunities to military spouses and veterans in the coming years.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has referred charges against five suspected 9/11 co-conspirators to a military commission, Pentagon officials announced.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WHITEHOUSE, Afghanistan - Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Sergey Huber had a rough childhood in Russia; he'd run away from home to escape an abusive father. Today, he's a proud Marine happy to serve his adopted country.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan and coalition security force captured a Haqqani network facilitator during an operation in the Pul-e Alam district of Wardak province. The facilitator was responsible for coordinating roadside bomb attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Transportation Command recently took on the icy challenge of building a pier in Antarctica that would enable the National Science Foundation to re-supply workers at McMurdo Station, the largest community on the frozen continent.

WASHINGTON - As U.S., NATO and Afghan officials discuss the future of night raids in Afghanistan, the raids remain effective and Afghan forces actively participate in the planning of every night operation, a senior Defense Department official said.

WASHINGTON - An Afghan and coalition security force killed an insurgent and detained another during an operation to capture an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan bomb-making expert in the Kunduz district of Kunduz province.

TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan - Air Force Airman 1st Class Marita McCoy said she enjoys serving alongside her father and stepmother at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan.

WASHINGTON - When a new policy takes effect -- probably this summer -- schools will need to have a signed memorandum of understanding to participate in the Defense Department’s Tuition Assistance Program, Pentagon officials said.

WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs Department is making progress on its pledge to end homelessness among veterans, with a focus on getting all homeless veterans off the streets by 2015, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki told American Forces Press Service.

WASHINGTON - Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, joined U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan C. Crocker in congratulating Maj. Gen. Faroq Barekzai on his assumption of command of Afghan Detention Operations Command.

ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan - Afghanistan-deployed Army Spc. Desire Chavarria interacts with Afghan women in communities to find out what they need and to help them understand the process of working with their government to have their needs met.

WASHINGTON - Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said the VA is on track toward meeting one of the top priorities he set on arrival at the department three years ago: breaking the back of the disability claims backlog.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has refined new methods to aid sexual assault victims whether reporting a crime or seeking assistance as they transition from service, the director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office said.