1ST LADY SEES TROOPS IN BOSNIA\U.S. effort lauded in visit to hot zone.

Byline: Ron Fournier Associated Press 

Protected by sharpshooters, Hillary Rodham Clinton swooped into a military zone by Black Hawk helicopter Monday to deliver a personal "thank you, thank you, thank you" to U.S. troops.

"They're making a difference," the first lady said of the 18,500 Americans working as peacekeepers in Bosnia.

Clinton became the first presidential spouse since Eleanor Roosevelt to make such an extensive trip into what can be considered hostile territory, though others have visited hot spots.

She was proud of the distinction:

"To be here on the ground is something I wanted to do so that maybe people back home would see it - not through the eyes of the secretary of the Army or someone in a position in the military - but like Eleanor Roosevelt, who has always done everything first, to visit the troops to say thank you."

Accompanied by her teen-age daughter, Chelsea, the first lady plunged into a grueling goodwill tour designed to boost troop morale in Bosnia and highlight efforts by Bosnians, Croats and Muslims to resolve deeply held differences.

Standing on a dusty, makeshift boardwalk near an out-of-the-way military hospital, Clinton said, "For the first time, children are playing again. Farmers are in their fields. People are moving into their homes."

The first lady acknowledged several "bumps in the road," a point underscored just three days ago when a U.S. soldier was killed in a vehicle accident. Clinton visited the soldier's driving companion in the military hospital.

"It's not going to be easy," she said.

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Hillary Rodham Clinton poses Monday with U.S. soldiers at Bedrock Camp near Tuzla in Bosnia. Associated Press