Fort Bliss

FORT BLISS, Texas - They left here as maintenance soldiers - cooks, mechanics and welders - were captured in the war in Iraq and returned yesterday as heroes. As the C-17 transport plane, carrying seven former POWs, landed in El Paso, two soldiers stuck their heads up from a top hatch. Pumping their fists in the air and hoisting a United States flag from atop the plane, Spc. Joseph Hudson, and Pvt. Patrick Miller, both 23, signaled their return and that of their fellow POWs. The scene excited the crowd of nearly 2,000 who began shouting "U.S.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has approved what officials are describing as the most significant realignment of the Army since World War II, signing off on a plan that will keep more troops than previously envisioned in Europe and add large numbers of soldiers to posts in Colorado, Georgia and Texas, Army officials said yesterday. The basing plan is the final step in a detailed program for deciding where a larger Army will live and train in the years ahead, as it grows by 65,000 active-duty soldiers.

WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials in Iraq have returned two of the 11 bodies found during the rescue mission of Pfc. Jessica Lynch and have ordered that the other nine sets of remains be shipped to the United States for examination to determine whether they are American war dead. Officials said a preliminary examination in the field gave commanders sufficient evidence that the dead could be Americans. That they were recovered at the hospital where Lynch, 19, was a prisoner was an indication that they might have been members of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company at Fort Bliss, Texas, ambushed by Iraqi forces and still missing in action.

Williams Scotsman International Inc. posted a profitable first quarter, reversing last year's loss and beating analyst forecasts, on increased demand for its mobile offices and storage units from hurricane-devastated regions and the government. The Baltimore company earned $10.4 million, or 26 cents a share, for the three months that ended March 31. That compared with a net loss of $818,000, or 13 cents a share, in the quarter last year. Revenue rose 31 percent to $165 million, from $126.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has approved what officials are describing as the most significant realignment of the Army since World War II, signing off on a plan that will keep more troops than previously envisioned in Europe and add large numbers of soldiers to posts in Colorado, Georgia and Texas, Army officials said yesterday. The basing plan is the final step in a detailed program for deciding where a larger Army will live and train in the years ahead, as it grows by 65,000 active-duty soldiers.

The U.S. Army has dropped its case against the only officer to face criminal charges in connection with the beating deaths of two prisoners held by the United States in Afghanistan, a military spokesman said yesterday. The officer, Capt. Christopher M. Beiring, led a reservist military police company at the main U.S. detention center in Afghanistan when the two men were killed in December 2002. The prisoners died after guards kneed them repeatedly in the legs while each was shackled to the ceiling of his cell.

Army Spc.MELISSA RATHBUN-NEALYGrand Rapids, Mich.Was the only female allied soldier listed as missing in action. She is 20, divorced, with no children, and is described by friends as strong and assertive. An ROTC cadet in high school, she joined the military shortly after graduation and is with the 233rd Transportation Company based at Fort Bliss, Texas. She hasbeen in Saudi Arabia since October.Army Spc.DAVID LOCKETTFort Bliss, TexasIs 23, and a transportation specialist. He and Specialist Rathbun-Nealy apparently were delivering equipment to positions near the Kuwaiti border in Saudi Arabia when they were captured by Iraqi troops Jan. 30.Navy Lt.JEFFREY NORTON ZAUNCherry Hill, N.J.Is 28 and was one of the seven allied prisoners of war shown on Iraqi television in the early days of the war. Bloodied and bruised in the broadcast, he showed no outward sign of injury yesterday.

Williams Scotsman International Inc. posted a profitable first quarter, reversing last year's loss and beating analyst forecasts, on increased demand for its mobile offices and storage units from hurricane-devastated regions and the government. The Baltimore company earned $10.4 million, or 26 cents a share, for the three months that ended March 31. That compared with a net loss of $818,000, or 13 cents a share, in the quarter last year. Revenue rose 31 percent to $165 million, from $126.

In Iraq A cache of U.S. currency found in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces could be as much as $656 million. American soldiers found the cash stashed in metal containers behind a false wall. The newly revamped Iraqi police force arrested former finance minister Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi and handed him over to American authorities, who were hopeful that his capture would help uncover assets hidden from Iraqi citizens. Thousands of Shiite pilgrims renewed a tradition banned for decades as they set out on a walk of faith down dusty roads to the holy cities of An Najaf and Karbala.

Residents of Brunswick, a small Frederick County community on the banks of the Potomac River, are mourning the loss of a young Army pilot, a former resident whose anti-drug plane crashed into a Colombian mountainside last week.Capt. Jennifer Jill Shafer Odom, 29, who grew up on her parents' farm a few miles west of Brunswick before entering West Point, was one of seven people aboard the plane, family members said yesterday. She was one of the plane's two pilots, they said.Yesterday, searchers climbed the densely forested mountain to retrieve the bodies of five U.S. soldiers and two Colombians, authorities said.

The U.S. Army has dropped its case against the only officer to face criminal charges in connection with the beating deaths of two prisoners held by the United States in Afghanistan, a military spokesman said yesterday. The officer, Capt. Christopher M. Beiring, led a reservist military police company at the main U.S. detention center in Afghanistan when the two men were killed in December 2002. The prisoners died after guards kneed them repeatedly in the legs while each was shackled to the ceiling of his cell.

DONA ANA ARMY CAMP, N.M. - Members of a National Guard battalion preparing for deployment to Iraq said this week that they were under strict lockdown and being treated like prisoners rather than soldiers by Army commanders at the remote desert camp where they are training. More troubling, say a number of the Guard troops, is that the training they have received is so poor and equipment shortages so prevalent that they fear their casualty rate will be needlessly high when they arrive in Iraq early next year.

In Iraq A cache of U.S. currency found in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces could be as much as $656 million. American soldiers found the cash stashed in metal containers behind a false wall. The newly revamped Iraqi police force arrested former finance minister Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi and handed him over to American authorities, who were hopeful that his capture would help uncover assets hidden from Iraqi citizens. Thousands of Shiite pilgrims renewed a tradition banned for decades as they set out on a walk of faith down dusty roads to the holy cities of An Najaf and Karbala.

FORT BLISS, Texas - They left here as maintenance soldiers - cooks, mechanics and welders - were captured in the war in Iraq and returned yesterday as heroes. As the C-17 transport plane, carrying seven former POWs, landed in El Paso, two soldiers stuck their heads up from a top hatch. Pumping their fists in the air and hoisting a United States flag from atop the plane, Spc. Joseph Hudson, and Pvt. Patrick Miller, both 23, signaled their return and that of their fellow POWs. The scene excited the crowd of nearly 2,000 who began shouting "U.S.

WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials in Iraq have returned two of the 11 bodies found during the rescue mission of Pfc. Jessica Lynch and have ordered that the other nine sets of remains be shipped to the United States for examination to determine whether they are American war dead. Officials said a preliminary examination in the field gave commanders sufficient evidence that the dead could be Americans. That they were recovered at the hospital where Lynch, 19, was a prisoner was an indication that they might have been members of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company at Fort Bliss, Texas, ambushed by Iraqi forces and still missing in action.

Residents of Brunswick, a small Frederick County community on the banks of the Potomac River, are mourning the loss of a young Army pilot, a former resident whose anti-drug plane crashed into a Colombian mountainside last week.Capt. Jennifer Jill Shafer Odom, 29, who grew up on her parents' farm a few miles west of Brunswick before entering West Point, was one of seven people aboard the plane, family members said yesterday. She was one of the plane's two pilots, they said.Yesterday, searchers climbed the densely forested mountain to retrieve the bodies of five U.S. soldiers and two Colombians, authorities said.

DONA ANA ARMY CAMP, N.M. - Members of a National Guard battalion preparing for deployment to Iraq said this week that they were under strict lockdown and being treated like prisoners rather than soldiers by Army commanders at the remote desert camp where they are training. More troubling, say a number of the Guard troops, is that the training they have received is so poor and equipment shortages so prevalent that they fear their casualty rate will be needlessly high when they arrive in Iraq early next year.

"I saw the Nile during sunrise," 2nd Lt. Michael A. Karns wrote his dad the week he arrived in Saudi Arabia.The Severna Park High graduate left Fort Bliss, Texas, in September to command five tanks in an intelligence and reconnaissance unit, the eyes and ears of the armored force.In the months that followed, the 24-year-old wrote home to his father, retired Army Lt. Col. Andrew M. Karns of Severna Park, chronicling life in the desert.The letters are crammed with details aboutweaponry, about tactics and missions and exploding bombs.

"I saw the Nile during sunrise," 2nd Lt. Michael A. Karns wrote his dad the week he arrived in Saudi Arabia.The Severna Park High graduate left Fort Bliss, Texas, in September to command five tanks in an intelligence and reconnaissance unit, the eyes and ears of the armored force.In the months that followed, the 24-year-old wrote home to his father, retired Army Lt. Col. Andrew M. Karns of Severna Park, chronicling life in the desert.The letters are crammed with details aboutweaponry, about tactics and missions and exploding bombs.

Army Spc.MELISSA RATHBUN-NEALYGrand Rapids, Mich.Was the only female allied soldier listed as missing in action. She is 20, divorced, with no children, and is described by friends as strong and assertive. An ROTC cadet in high school, she joined the military shortly after graduation and is with the 233rd Transportation Company based at Fort Bliss, Texas. She hasbeen in Saudi Arabia since October.Army Spc.DAVID LOCKETTFort Bliss, TexasIs 23, and a transportation specialist. He and Specialist Rathbun-Nealy apparently were delivering equipment to positions near the Kuwaiti border in Saudi Arabia when they were captured by Iraqi troops Jan. 30.Navy Lt.JEFFREY NORTON ZAUNCherry Hill, N.J.Is 28 and was one of the seven allied prisoners of war shown on Iraqi television in the early days of the war. Bloodied and bruised in the broadcast, he showed no outward sign of injury yesterday.