Just before dawn more than three years ago the military launched a rocket with a secret payload off the coast of Alaska, a success touted by the Pentagon that left a trail of injury and secret payouts for Sandia National Laboratories.

The Army said morale has fallen among its forces in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war.

Doctors' offices remain unusually busy although the percentage of patients with flu-like illnesses continues to drop, according to the New Mexico Department of Health, which also reported three more swine flu deaths over the last week.

The countdown clocks at NASA are ticking toward a Monday launch of space shuttle Atlantis.