Since the end of the Vietnam War, the United States has engaged in military action in the Mideast, Africa, the Western Hemisphere and in Europe. The details:

IRAN HOSTAGE RESCUE MISSION
Date: April 25, 1980
Purpose: President Carter dispatched eight helicopters to Iran in an attempt to rescue 52 Americans taken hostage in November 1979. The rescue attempt ended in failure when a helicopter and a transport plane collided over the Iranian desert during a sandstorm. The hostages were finally released Jan. 20, 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated president.

American fatalities: eight noncombat.

LEBANON PEACEKEEPING MISSION
Dates: Aug. 25, 1982-Feb. 26, 1984
Purpose: President Reagan sent 1,200 troops to help stabilize Lebanon. On Oct. 23, 1983, trucks packed with explosives rammed into the U.S. Marine barracks, killing over 240 U.S. servicemen. Reagan withdrew the troops in 1984.

American fatalities: 256 hostile, nine noncombat.

INVASION OF GRENADA
Date: 1983
Purpose: Reagan sent an invasion force to the Caribbean island, saying American medical students there were in danger after a Marxist junta seized power. The junta was ousted.

American fatalities: 18 hostile, one noncombat.

LIBYA BOMBING RAID
Date: April 15, 1986
Purpose: Reagan sought to punish Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for Libya's support of international terrorism, including the bombing of a German disco in which two U.S. servicemen died. American planes bombed the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. Gadhafi was not hurt, but his adopted daughter was killed.

American fatalities: Two when their F-111 bomber was lost.

PANAMA INVASION
Date: 1989
Purpose: President Bush sent troops to oust General Manuel Noriega amid reports of his involvement in drug trafficking and corruption. He was captured, then tried and convicted in U.S. federal court. He has spent nearly nine years at a federal prison near Miami.

American fatalities: 23 hostile.

OPERATIONS DESERT STORM and DESERT SHIELD, IRAQ
Dates: 1990-1991
Purpose: Bush deployed 500,000 troops to contest Iraq's invasion of neighboring Kuwait. Allied troops regained control of Kuwait, yet skirmishes between Iraq and the allies continue to this day.

American fatalities: 148 hostile, 235 noncombat.

SOMALIA RELIEF: OPERATION PROVIDE HOPE
Dates: 1992-1994
Purpose: Bush launched Operation Restore Hope to relieve suffering caused by famine and restore political stability. President Clinton ordered 15,000 U.S. reinforcements after an attack on U.S. soldiers left 18 dead. American troops retreated. Fighting among Somali warlords continues.

American fatalities: 29 hostile, 14 noncombat.

HAITI
Dates: 1994-1995
Purpose: Clinton sent troops to reinstate democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide was reinstated. Command of multinational force passed to the United Nations on March 31, 1995.

American fatalities: 4 noncombat.

BOSNIA AIR STRIKES
Date: 1995
Purpose: NATO forces, including American troops, sought to end a war precipitated by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic and his dreams of a Greater Serbia attained through ``ethnic cleansing.'' After the Dayton Peace Accords were signed in 1995, Clinton committed 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia as part of a 60,000-person NATO force which was to implement the agreement.

American fatalities: None, although Air Force Capt. Scott O'Grady's F-16 fighter jet was shot down over Bosnia on June 2. U.S. Marines rescued him six days later.

Sources: Department of Defense Statistical Information Analysis Division and Associated Press files.