Acknowledging the challenges ahead and pledging full effort, Gen. David H. Petraeus took the helm of the top U.S. commander in Iraq on Saturday in Baghdad.

All active components of the military services met or exceeded their recruiting goals for January, the Defense Department announced Monday.

Beginning Monday, three America Supports You members a week will be featured on the Internet at AmericaSupportsYou.mil on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Additionally, the America Supports You E-newsletter will highlight those groups beginning the week of Feb. 26. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced last week that an employee reported a government-owned, portable hard drive used by the employee at a department facility in Birmingham, Ala. — and potentially containing personal information about some veterans — is missing and may have been stolen.

A 3-percent pay raise for service members, an increase in ground forces and continued funding of the global war on terrorism are on the table now that President Bush has delivered his fiscal 2008 defense budget request and 2007 emergency supplemental request to Congress today. 

The Army’s “Blue to Green” program, designed to allow airmen, sailors and Marines affected by force shaping to move to the Army, recently hit a milestone, a Defense Department official said here Jan. 24

The National Guard Bureau Chief, Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, was notified that the United States Senate confirmed his nomination for a two-year extension in his current position. 

The Army announced Jan. 25 the extension of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, currently deployed to Afghanistan. 

Coalition and Iraqi forces killed 14 terrorists and captured dozens of suspected insurgents during operations conducted in Iraq Sunday and over the past week, officials said. 

The Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, began their day Jan. 16 securing the outside of a mosque in the Hardar neighborhood of Al-Doura, Baghdad, while NPs and IAs searched the inside.