William Gallo

Chad Garland visited RAF Fairford, where the B-1s are gone and locals are wondering what comes next. www.stripes.com/theaters/eur...

Pentagon schools drop annual flu vaccine requirement for students Read more at: www.stripes.com/theaters/us/... Source - Stars and Stripes

The family of a Japanese woman killed this month on Okinawa is demanding punishment equal to the severity of the crime, saying they are struggling through each day with grief, anger and fear.

A classic Stars and Stripes story here.

Military spouses interviewed by Stars and Stripes described rationing money for groceries and gas, turning to food pantries, borrowing from relatives and accumulating thousands of dollars in debt. www.stripes.com/theaters/eur...

US military says it has officially left Iraq www.war.gov/News/Release...

America must prepare for warfare on moon, top general says www.stripes.com/branches/spa...

The Navy’s largest base is reexamining its parking and other procedures after towing dozens of cars belonging to sailors away at sea, an official said Thursday. www.stripes.com/branches/nav... Source - Stars and Stripes

"Video of the encounter appears to show an agent repeatedly striking one teen, while the other says he was pepper-sprayed." www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...

The protesters said that South Korea should not send military forces to the strait under any circumstances. They also argued that yielding to U.S. pressure would undermine South Korea’s pursuit of self-reliant defense and independent diplomacy. www.stripes.com/branches/arm...

"Iranian drone and missile strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures on several U.S. bases, including at the Navy’s main regional logistics hub in Bahrain, CENTCOM officials told the inspector general." www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...

Younger veterans are substantially more likely to have dangerous levels of toxic “forever chemicals” in their blood than non-veterans the same age, a nationally representative study reported this week. www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...

"When leaders treat asking tough questions and reporting uncomfortable facts as disloyalty, they devalue a tool that can help them fix crucial problems."

That bright thing in the sky is just Venus, please don’t shoot — again www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...

WSJ: USS George Washington is set to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed for more than 250 days

“We already had an instance where watch standers had to stop someone from jumping,” one sailor said. The ship’s crew was informed about the incident, which occurred a few months ago, during a ship-wide announcement, sailors said.

A look at life in Bahrain, home to the US 5th Fleet, after Iranian attacks that prompted a mass US evacuation.

Poll finds broad global opposition to US military bases

First Germany, now Poland.

For the sailors and military families who fled Bahrain during the Iran war, there is no mental health playbook. That's partly because PTSD care is largely built around troops going to war -- not war arriving at their homes. A deeply reported piece by @starsandstripes.bsky.social's Shannon Renfroe.

Army garrison says no blanket speech ban after ‘do not engage with media’ message

ANALYSIS | Operation Epic Fury has sunk Iran’s largest naval ships, degraded its air defenses and killed many of its top leaders. It has also laid bare the vulnerabilities of the American presence in the Middle East, experts say. From Stars and Stripes' Lara Korte:

"American military and intelligence officials estimate that, after weeks of war, Iran still has about 40 percent of its arsenal of attack drones and upward of 60 percent of its missile launchers — more than enough to hold shipping in the Strait of Hormuz hostage..." www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

I spoke to Stars & Stripes about the takeaways for US forces in Europe from Iran's long-range Indian Ocean missile launches last Friday www.stripes.com/theaters/eur...

“If you are willing to actually allow and fund to a certain extent a newspaper that you understand will hold you to account at times,” he said, “I think it’s a really wonderful expression of those values in the First Amendment.”

Very happy to report that I am now the Europe/Mideast bureau chief for Stars and Stripes. I've long been impressed from afar at the work this outlet has done in communicating to the US military community, and two days in I'm more convinced than ever about the importance of that mission.

!!!

“I believe they see my writing style as excessively objective and they see it as a problem,” he said. “I say positive things about North Korea sometimes, and when negative, not in a hysterical style.”

Yoon Suk-yeol has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Front page news here in Taipei:

A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange planned to give customers a small cash reward of 2,000 won - $1.37 - but instead gave them 2,000 bitcoins on Friday.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has vowed to use her dominance of Japan’s parliament after her huge election win to attempt to amend the country’s constitution for the first time in almost 80 years.

POLL: Danish perceptions of the relationship with the United States have taken a stark downturn in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland. Read more: www.stripes.com/theaters/eur... #Flashes

We will not stop.

"While it has existed since 2009, the EU’s Article 42.7 mutual defense clause was rarely seen as necessary because NATO’s Article 5 served a similar purpose. But Europe's governments have started to doubt whether the U.S. really would come to Europe's rescue."

“We will never have true strategic independence, absent our own nuclear deterrent...let’s keep our options open."

FROM OUR OMBUDSMAN: Given the overall press restrictions and the moves to take over editorial control of Stars and Stripes, the future of a reputable newspaper that dates to the Civil War is in danger. Here's what's happening, why & what you can do about it. Gift article🔗: bit.ly/4k7MF6F #Flashes

Trump's threats to take Greenland "should be the final wake-up call for the UK, Europe and Canada never to allow themselves to slide into such a position of profound weakness again."

"This vanishing of North Korea from 2017 to 2025 alone should caution the reader to take this text, whether you see things you like or dislike, with a gigantic grain of salt."

Denmark’s military intelligence service has for the first time classified the US as a security risk, a striking shift in how one of Washington’s closest European allies assesses the transatlantic relationship.

MAGAZINER: How many veterans have you deported? NOEM: We haven't deported veterans MAGAZINER: We are now joined on Zoom by a combat veteran you deported to Korea

Instead of the word “denuclearization,” the paper emphasized “resolving the Korean peninsula issue through political means.