Eastern.

• Position: REGIONAL REPORT - Companies if North Carolina

Eastern military bases take few hits

Eastern North Carolina, where most of the military's 135,000 troops and civilian workers in the state are based, escaped proposed Pentagon budget cuts with few casualties. Total state body count: a net loss of about 260 positions. Pope Air Force Base, near Fayetteville, would lose more than 4,800 military slots but add 800 civilian jobs. Adjacent Fort Bragg would gain about 4,100 soldiers and 250 civilians, and the Army would move several units to Pope. Coastal bases with about 63,000 Marines and civilians would lose fewer than 700 civilian jobs and about 130 Marines. Congress and President Bush must make a decision on the proposal by this fall. North Carolina spent $2 million to lobby against cuts here and $20 million to buy buffer zones to protect bases from encroaching development. Defense analysts say bases in the Northeast were hit hardest.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Fort Bragg might get an additional $11.4 million to build barracks, pushing construction spending there and at Pope to more than $200 million in the fiscal year that will begin in October. The latest item was approved by armed-forces subcommittees but awaits funding by Congress.

WILMINGTON -- AaiPharma...