1st Armored Division

For more than two years, Army Spc. Jose R. Perez had preached the virtues of military service -- and in the same breath talked about using his veterans benefits to open a barbershop in his hometown of Ontario. The plan sounded admirable, even cozy, to his wife and high school sweetheart, Violeta, who only wanted a stable life for their infant daughter, Izabel, and 4-year-old son, Jose Jr. Until he was killed by a sniper Oct.

Insurgents detonated a bomb alongside a U.S. military convoy west of Baghdad on Friday, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the military said. The attack occurred in Ramadi, about 60 miles west of the Iraqi capital, U.S. Central Command said. The names of the casualties were withheld pending notification of relatives. In another bomb attack, an explosive made from a land mine went off near the southern city of Mahaweel as a Polish convoy drove by, wounding two soldiers.

The Department of Defense on Wednesday identified three soldiers killed in Iraq recently in separate attacks involving improvised bombs. Second Lt. Todd J. Bryant, 23, of Riverside was killed Friday in Fallouja while on patrol in the city west of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, at Ft. Riley, Kan. Spc. Maurice J. Johnson, 21, of Levittown, Pa., was killed Saturday in the northern city of Mosul.

The first U.S. troops to operate openly in Bosnia moved out Thursday to check bases and communications before 20,000 others start arriving next month to help enforce a peace deal. A 10-member U.S. Army team and a 10-member Air Force group arrived in the Bosnian government-controlled town of Tuzla on Wednesday to inspect its airstrip and the Americans' future command post for the volatile northeast sector.

Here is a list of units the Pentagon said Thursday will be added to U.S. forces currently in the Persian Gulf: Active Duty Army Units: --1st Armored Division, Ansbach, Germany --3rd Armored Division, Frankfurt, Germany --1st Infantry Division, Ft. Riley, Kan.

About one in every 10 members of Iraq's security forces "actually worked against" U.S. troops during the recent militia violence in Iraq, and an additional 40% walked off the job because of intimidation, the commander of the 1st Armored Division said Wednesday. In an interview by satellite from Baghdad with news executives attending Associated Press' annual meeting, Army Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said, "We have to get this latest increase in violence under control.

In the latest sign of pressure on troop strength from growing violence in Iraq, the Pentagon said Monday that it had extended the combat tour of 4,000 soldiers, the second time in as many months that an Army brigade has seen its yearlong deployment lengthened. The 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division, which is assigned to Ramadi, the capital of volatile Al Anbar province, will remain in Iraq an additional 46 days, defense officials said.

Principal writers: John Balzar, with Army XVIII Airborne Corps in Saudi Arabia and Iraq Barry Bearak, from New York Doug Frantz, from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Mark Fineman, from Baghdad, Iraq, and Amman, Jordan Scott Harris, from Los Angeles Douglas Jehl, with Army's 1st Armored Division David Lauter, from Washington Kim Murphy, from Kuwait city and Dhahran Michael Parks, from Moscow Daniel Williams, from Baghdad and Jerusalem.