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American Forces Press Service
10/15/2004 Iraq Police Graduate 32 from Specialty Training Course  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2004 -- The International Zone training facility in Baghdad, Iraq, graduated 32 Iraqi Police Service officers from the Basic Criminal Investigation course and another 85 from the Election Security Course on Oct. 14. The Basic Criminal Investigation course...

10/15/2004 Thrift Savings Plan Kicks Off Open Season   With Photos
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2004 – The federal government's Thrift Savings Plan kicked off its 2004 "open season" today with slogans to remind members of the uniformed services and civilian government employees that they can increase their retirement coffers substantially by investing...

10/15/2004 Afghan Election 'Remarkable Event,' Ambassador Says  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2004 – The Afghan presidential election held Oct. 9 was "a remarkable event," U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said at the Pentagon today. Following a meeting with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the ambassador told the press...

10/15/2004 NFL to Donate $250,000 for Pat Tillman USO Center  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2004 -- The National Football League will donate $250,000 to the United Service Organizations in memory of former Arizona Cardinals player and Army Ranger Cpl. Pat Tillman, the league announced at the annual USO gala here Oct. 14....

10/15/2004 USO Honors Military Heroes at Gala Event   With Photos
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2004 -- Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alan P. Dementer, a hospital corpsman, does not consider himself a hero. He says he was just "doing his job" when he treated 31 Marines wounded during an attack on their...

10/15/2004 Car Bomb in Southern Baghdad Kills 10 Iraqis  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2004 -- A vehicle-borne explosive device detonated on a busy city street at about 11 a.m. today, killing 10 Iraqi bystanders in the southern portion of Baghdad, according to a Multinational Force Iraq news release. The car bomb...

10/14/2004 Global Posture Part and Parcel of Transformation   Transformation Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2004 -- The global posture of American troops is part and parcel of the transformation of the U.S. military, said the Joint Staff's deputy director for strategy and policy. Navy Rear Adm. Richard Hunt said a global readjustment...

10/14/2004 DoD Allowing More Wounded Troops to Remain on Duty  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2004 -- The Defense Department has long been a leader in providing employment opportunities to people with disabilities -- but it's taken a major step forward by allowing disabled veterans to remain in the military if they want...

10/14/2004 Iraqi Soldiers Seize Weapons, Explosives  
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 14, 2004 -- The Iraqi Intervention Force's 1st Battalion arrested six people and seized two vehicles loaded with weapons and explosives Oct. 13 at a traffic control point here. The vehicles were stopped during routine searches at the...

10/14/2004 Iraqi Police Take Down Kirkuk 'Hostage House'  
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 14, 2004 -- Police in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk captured seven suspected kidnappers Oct. 12 after intercepting two kidnap victims fleeing from four armed men. Officers moved to the home in the Wahid Huzayray area after...

10/14/2004 Muslim Holy Month Begins This Weekend  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2004 -- Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide, begins this weekend. The observance, with its emphasis on inner reflection, fasting and prayer, takes on special significance to U.S. servicemembers deployed to Southwest Asia,...

10/14/2004 Baghdad Blasts Kill U.S. Civilians; Other Attacks Kill Soldiers  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2004 -- Two explosions within seconds of each other rocked Baghdad's International Zone today, killing three U.S. civilians and wounding two servicemembers. Four U.S. soldiers have been killed in other incidents since Oct. 13. Military officials said two...

10/14/2004 Why I Serve: Military Family Leads Hispanic Woman to AF Academy   With Photos
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2004 -- "It's the long blue line and lot of prestige. But you don't go to academies just because of the prestige or what people might think of you because you went to the academy,' said Air Force...

10/14/2004 Tax Relief Act Works for Low-Income Troops in Combat Zones  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2004 -- Troops in combat zones stand to reap tax benefits from provisions in the Working Families Relief Tax Act of 2004, which President Bush signed into law Oct. 4. Income earned in combat zones is not taxed....

10/14/2004 Corps of Engineers Builds Toward Terror-Free Afghanistan  
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 14, 2004 -- Remnants of former Soviet bases -- with the shells of their buildings, near bombed-out tanks, minefields and leftover munitions -- are scattered over the mountainous landscape in Afghanistan. For a country that has been at...

10/14/2004 AAFES Calling-Card Best Value for Troops in Southwest Asia  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2004 -- Looking to buy a prepaid phone card for a servicemember deployed to Southwest Asia, but confused about which one to buy? Take comfort in knowing you're not alone. With so many competing companies offering different calling...

10/13/2004 Rumsfeld 'Feels Good' About NATO Defense Meetings  
POIANA BRASOV, Romania, Oct. 13, 2004 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld "feels very good about the results of today's meetings," according to U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns, who attended today's informal meetings of NATO defense ministers here with the...

10/13/2004 NATO: Integrate Afghan Missions, Speed Trainers to Iraq  
POIANA BRASOV, Romania, Oct. 13, 2004 – Most NATO-member defense ministers assembled here today agreed to examine how to integrate alliance and U.S.- coalition missions in Afghanistan and to send more military trainers to Iraq as quickly as possible. Near the...

10/13/2004 DoD Promotes Job Opportunities for Disabled People  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2004 — The Defense Department is making steady progress in recruiting and hiring people with disabilities, the Pentagon's disability program manager said today during an interview with the Pentagon Channel and the American Forces Press Service. Judy Gilliom...

10/13/2004 Why I Serve: Instructor Pilot Discovered Talent Early   With Photos
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2004 – "I take great pride in knowing that I am doing my duty as an American protecting our freedoms," Marine Corps Maj. Brent Camron Reiffer said. "I have had the opportunity to travel to multiple countries and...

10/13/2004 Iraqi Air Force Set to Receive Additional Aircraft  
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 13, 2004 – The Iraqi air force's 70th Squadron will take possession of the first two SAMA CH2000 light air surveillance aircraft Oct. 29, in Basrah, as the first delivery of an addition to the force that will...

10/13/2004 Why I Serve: Injured Soldier Vows to Return to Full Duty   With Photos
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, Oct. 13, 2004 — "As long as you have heart, there's nothing to stop you," said Army Sgt. Joshua Forbess, one of just five soldiers who survived a fiery Black Hawk helicopter collision over Mosul, Iraq, last...

10/13/2004 Hispanic Former Combat Pilot Talks About POW Experiences   With Photos
MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 13, 2004 – Reflecting on the times his North Vietnamese captors threatened to put him on trial and punish him for his crimes with a possible death sentence, Everett Alvarez Jr., 67, said, "There wasn't anything I could...

10/13/2004 Relationship, Money Issues Face Some Returning Combatants  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2004 -- Money, intimacy and re-establishing their relationship as a couple and with their children are some of the challenging issues facing families when servicemembers return after months away on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. A team...

10/13/2004 Flu Shots Set for Servicemembers, High-Risk Populations  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2004 – Deployed and deploying servicemembers are among the priority groups for receiving the flu vaccine, Defense Department officials said here today. While the department is affected by the British rejection of Chiron flu vaccine, all high-risk beneficiaries...

10/13/2004 Romania 'Steadfast' Ally In Anti-Terror War, Rumsfeld Says  
POIANA BRASOV, Romania, Oct. 13, 2004 – Arriving today at this Transylvanian resort town to participate in NATO talks over the next two days, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld already knew America could count on Romania as a reliable ally. Romania...

10/13/2004 Rumsfeld: Transformation Moving NATO Into 21st Century   Transformation Article
POIANA BRASOV, Romania, Oct. 13, 2004 –- Initiatives designed to expand NATO's capabilities are helping the alliance to better confront 21st-century challenges such as global terrorism, the U.S. military's top civilian said here today. For example, NATO's recently established rapid response...

10/13/2004 Peaceful Afghan Elections a 'Milestone' for Country  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2004 – The presidential elections in Afghanistan Oct. 9 were a "milestone" in the history of the troubled country, said a coalition spokesman in Kabul today. Army Maj. Scott Nelson said Afghans "demonstrated to all on Saturday their...

10/13/2004 Roadside Bombs Kill Four U.S. Soldiers in Baghdad  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2004 – Improvised explosive devices killed four Task Force Baghdad soldiers Oct. 12 and today, and an operation in Mosul netted 23 suspects and foiled another bomb attack, according to 1st Cavalry Division news releases. Three soldiers died...

10/13/2004 Multinational Forces Continue Iraqi Armament Efforts  
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 13, 2004 -- Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq's continuing mission to help arm and equip Iraq's security forces has, since Oct. 1, seen the distribution of what officials described as "massive quantities" of weapons, armor and vehicles. The...

10/13/2004 Internet Coupons Stretch Commissary Customers' Savings  
FORT LEE, Va., Oct. 13, 2004 -- Commissary shoppers are among the top coupon clippers in the world, but the "clipping" part may someday be history. The Defense Commissary Agency is helping customers increase their savings by making Internet coupon links...

10/12/2004 NATO Capabilities Improving, but Time Needed  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2004 – NATO capabilities are transforming, but the process will take time, said Marine Gen. James Jones in a recent interview. Jones, the alliance's supreme allied commander for operations, said that transformation is not just a U.S. process....

10/12/2004 DoD Aims to Attract More Hispanics to Its Work Force  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2004 — The Defense Department is increasingly reaching out to Hispanic organizations to get the word out about the broad range of military and civil service opportunities open to Hispanics, the Pentagon's top personnel officer told the American...

10/12/2004 Police Trainers Facilitate Iraqi Equipment Exchange Effort  
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 12, 2004 – A shipment of standard-issue police gear was distributed in the past week to Iraqi Police Service officers in Irbil. The shipment is part of a newly founded police gear exchange program initiated by Multinational Security...

10/12/2004 Military Medics Move Combat Care to Front Lines   With Photos
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, Oct. 12, 2004 — From surgical care to physical therapy to blood supplies, the military medical system is moving its assets closer to the front lines to be more responsive to patient needs and, when possible, to...

10/12/2004 New Chely Wright Recording to Benefit Stars for Stripes   With Photos
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2004 — Due to its overwhelming popularity among the troops in Southwest Asia, country music star Chely Wright is about to release a new single recording, "Bumper of My SUV," about the need for Americans to continue supporting...

10/12/2004 New Government Web Site Offers One-Stop Financial Education  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2004 – The Defense Department is part of a multiagency effort that resulted in today's debut of a federal government Web site devoted to financial education. According to DoD officials, the mymoney.gov site has been in the works...

10/12/2004 Iraqi SWAT, U.S. Marines Capture 10 Suspected Insurgents  
The combined force came under small-arms fire en route to a suspected insurgent safe house. The attack was quickly repelled and the force moved on to the safe house, where Iraqi SWAT members detained 10 individuals, officials said. One Marine suffered...

10/12/2004 1st Marine Division Supports Iraqi Security Forces Raids  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2004 - Iraqi security forces, supported by Marines and soldiers from the 1st Marine Division began a series of raids on seven mosques in Ramadi today. "Our participation in these raids has been limited to supporting Iraqi security...

10/12/2004 Precision Strikes Destroy Zarqawi Meeting Center, Safe House  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2004 -- Multinational Force Iraq struck again at the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist network today, destroying a meeting place and a safe house in separate precision attacks. The first attack, just after midnight, took out a known Zarqawi...

10/11/2004 Rumsfeld Honors Macedonian Troops, Visits Romanian Airbase  
BUCHAREST, Romania, Oct. 11, 2004 -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived here today to confer with senior Romanian officials before attending NATO informal defense ministerial meetings Oct. 13 and 14 in Poiana Brasov. Earlier today Rumsfeld was in Skopje, Former...

10/11/2004 NATO Training Forces Now Under Multinational Command  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2004 -- The Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced the structure of the Iraqi security forces joint training, mentoring and equipping assistance effort Oct. 8 at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium. The...

10/11/2004 Attacks Kill Three Soldiers, Wound 14  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2004 - Two Task Force Baghdad soldiers were killed and five were wounded when rockets impacted in southern Baghdad, Iraq, about 8 a.m. today, according to a Multinational Force Iraq news release. Later this morning, a soldier assigned...

10/11/2004 Iraqi Leads Effort to Rebuild Substation Near Sadr City  
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 11, 2004 -- Khalid Badrakhn is a businessman. Raised as a child in the Kurdish section of Iraq and educated at the United Kingdom's Aston University, he understands the two worlds in which he now lives: the one...

10/11/2004 U.S. Can Help, But Iraqis Need To Provide Their Security, Rumsfeld Says  
SKOPJE, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Oct. 11, 2004 -- After a whirlwind, daylong tour of Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived here Oct. 10 for next-day meetings with Macedonian government and military officials. Earlier in the day the secretary...

10/10/2004 Bin Laden Hunt Continues 24/7, DoD Leaders Report  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2004 -- The manhunt for Osama bin Laden continues "every day, 24 hours a day," the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan told NBC News this week. Army Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, commander of Combined Forces Command...

10/10/2004 U.S. Soldier Killed by Car Bomb; Marines' Offensive Continues  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2004 -- Two car bombs detonated in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, today, killing one American soldier, according to a Multinational Force Iraq news release. The first blast targeted a Multinational Force convoy about 7:15 a.m. in eastern Baghdad. One...

10/10/2004 Power Restored to 10,000 Baghdad Residents  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2004 -- An 8th Engineer Battalion project to provide electricity to 10,000 residents of three neighborhoods in Baghdad's Zaphernia district was officially completed Oct. 2, a Multinational Force Iraq news release reported. The project is part of the...

10/10/2004 Iraqi Police Service to Graduate Largest Class Ever  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2004 -- The Iraqi Police Service will graduate 1,137 police recruits from a police basic training course at the Jordan International Police Training Center in Amman, Jordan, Oct. 14, a Multinational Force Iraq news release said. It is...

10/10/2004 Soldiers Deliver Supplies to Iraqi Children  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2004 -- Smiling children shouting joyfully filled a nearby school as soldiers distributed stuffed animals, clothes, book bags and school supplies during a civil affairs mission in Al Anwar village, Iraq, Oct 9. According to a Multinational Force...

10/10/2004 Rice Sure Afghan Elections Results to Stand  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2004 -- Despite claims of fraud from 15 of the 16 Afghan presidential candidates, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is sure the results will stand, she told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday today. "This election has been...

10/10/2004 Explosives, Weapons Caches Found in Afghanistan  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2004 -- No injuries or damages to equipment were reported following an improvised-explosive-device detonation near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Oct. 9, according to a Combined Force Command-Afghanistan news release. The IED had been made by wiring together two 82...

10/10/2004 Rumsfeld: Troop Reductions Not Likely Until Iraqis Stronger  
AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq, Oct. 10, 2004 -- There likely won't be a reduction in U.S. troop strength in Iraq until after the country's national elections in January, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a gathering of servicemembers here today....

10/09/2004 Rumsfeld Salutes Sailors, Allies Aboard Aircraft Carrier  
ABOARD THE USS JOHN F. KENNEDY, Oct. 9, 2004 -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was flown out today from Bahrain to this aircraft carrier patrolling the Persian Gulf to meet with sailors and to get a briefing on the situations...

10/09/2004 Three Suspected of Planning Suicide Bombing Detained  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2004 -- U.S. soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division detained three individuals north of Samarra, Iraq, on Oct. 8, according to a Multinational Force Iraq news release. The individuals are suspected of planning a suicide bombing. The soldiers...

10/09/2004 Reconstruction Underway to Restore Iraqi Railroads  
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 9, 2004 -- Railroads in Iraq were a multinational construction effort long before the current restoration effort began. Railroad construction in Iraq was started in the late 1800s by imperialist Germany. After the British invasion in the early...

10/09/2004 Rumsfeld: Extremists in Iraq Want Taliban-Like Rule   With Photos
ENROUTE TO BAHRAIN, Oct. 9, 2004 -- Extremists in Iraq and elsewhere envision "a Taliban-type" world where sports facilities are routinely used for murder, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters Oct. 8. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, right, talks...

Updated: 15 Oct 2004
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