One of the final drills at this year's Cobra Gold exercise in Thailand nearly unraveled after the lead planner was abruptly reassigned, leading the Marine Corps to bring in command officers from the Philippines with less than three days' notice to oversee the mission. (from @alexmwilson.bsky.social)
The Hawaii Air National Guard is moving forward with construction projects at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to fully integrate seven stealth F-22 Raptors that were transferred from Florida in the wake of a 2018 hurricane. (from @wyattwolson.bsky.social)
UPDATE | American forces across the Middle East continue to endure air raid sirens and explosions as Operation Epic Fury has stretched into its second week.
Here's what's happening at U.S. bases in the region amid the ongoing campaign against Iran.
From Stars and Stripes' Lara Korte:
Senate Democrats are demanding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio immediately appear before Congress for public hearings on the Iran war. (from @svetashko.bsky.social)
The latest Quinnipiac University poll found more than half of the American electorate opposes the ongoing military campaign against Iran, and nearly three-quarters said they would be against the use of U.S. ground forces there.
From Stars and Stripes' Phillip Walter Wellman:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter observed tests this week of strategic cruise missiles fired from a warship, state media reported Wednesday, as North Korea threatened responses to ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills.
ICYMI: Erika Kirk was recently appointed by President Donald Trump to the oversight board at the U.S. Air Force Academy, filling a seat Charlie Kirk held for about five months before his assassination last year.
The remains of a World War II soldier from Connecticut who went missing in 1944 while fighting in northern Italy have been identified and reburied at Arlington National Cemetery.
Russian and Ukrainian officials this week made rival claims of battlefield successes in their four-year-old war, as the U.S. postponed its sponsored talks between the two sides due to the war in the Middle East.
ICYMI: A woman in Montana was sentenced this week to probation and ordered to repay over $73,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to stealing from an Army MWR fund at Fort William Henry Harrison.
The Coast Guard cutter Munro is back stateside after a nearly four-month deployment that saw it travel some 26,000 miles, including sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to chase down an oil tanker wanted for violating U.S. sanctions.
From Stars and Stripes' Alison Bath:
ICYMI: At a Tuesday press briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that Iran had yet to see the "most intense" of U.S. strikes in its 10-day-old bombing campaign that has begun targeting facilities where Iran makes its deadly one-way attack drones.
From Stars and Stripes' Corey Dickstein:
Meeting the post-9/11 demands of a military focus on the Middle East has cost Europe the tanks and heavy artillery it needs now, a new U.S. Army War College paper argues.
From Stars' and Stripes John Vandiver:
The area in the exclusion zone around Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant appears frozen in time, as recovery continues in a changed landscape and nature reclaims abandoned buildings 15 years after disaster struck.
From Stars and Stripes' Seth Robson in Fukushima:
A new $12.5 million, 13,000-square-foot dining facility paid for and built by South Korea is now supporting U.S. troops rotating through the only Marine Corps base on the peninsula.
Paraguay’s lawmakers have approved an agreement that lets U.S. military and civilian personnel operate in the country under special legal rules and gives the U.S. criminal jurisdiction over its personnel.
The Senate confirmed Army Gen. Joshua Rudd to head U.S. Cyber Command and serve as director of the National Security Agency after the two positions were left without permanent leadership for nearly a year.
Nearly a dozen former military lawyers filed a document in federal court Tuesday supporting the removal of an Army attorney who was appointed as the sole prosecutor in a case against a man accused of assaulting federal law enforcement officers in Minnesota.
New footage shows what an expert investigative group says is likely an American Tomahawk missile hitting a compound in southern Iran, meters from the school where a deadly unclaimed blast killed over 165 people.
A U.S. serviceman in uniform writes notes on a notepad. (USAF) White text: VA limit on GI Bill benefits is challenged by major veterans groups; white Stars and Stripes logo
Two major veterans groups, joined by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, are appealing a Department of Veterans Affairs rule mandating a break in military service for veterans seeking up to four years of education benefits under two GI Bills.
Read more:
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The State Department has authorized the use of up to $40 million in emergency funds to pay for evacuation charter flights for Americans to leave the Middle East.
Six mobile museums will travel throughout the U.S. as part of the military’s celebration of American 250.
The mobile museums, called “Freedom Trucks,” will bring the history of the country’s founding to “every corner of our country and near many military communities.”
A small modular drone case designed by 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers will go into limited production just months after the soldiers presented their case to Army leaders at a “Shark Tank”-style innovation competition.
Check it out:
Senate Democrats said they will tie up the Senate floor with five separate war powers resolutions to compel Republican leadership to greenlight committee hearings.
JUST IN: About 140 U.S. service members have been wounded in the 10 days since the start of the conflict with Iran.
108 have already returned the duty.
In a new Quinnipiac University Poll, 53% of U.S. voters oppose the military action in Iran named Operation Epic Fury, while 40% support it.
To whether U.S. ground troops should be sent into Iran, 74% said no, while 20% expressed support for the idea.
Photo: USAF Academy cadets stand in formation while in uniform. (DVIDS) White text: Erika Kirk added to Air Force Academy oversight board
Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is the newest member of an oversight board at the U.S. Air Force Academy, filling a seat that he had held for about 5 months before his assassination.
She was appointed by President Donald Trump.
www.stripes.com/branches/air... #Flashes
That’s how she captured the striking image, which attracted over a million views, an indication of the value of intrepid journalists.
Stars and Stripes remains committed to reporting, editing and delivering the news in wartime despite the risks and challenges.
Read more from our ombudsman:
Background photo: A pillar of dark smoke rises into the sky above the Manama, Bahrain skyline. White text: Opinion | The words of Ombudsman Jacqueline Smith Risks and challenges of getting news of the war to Stripes' readers; white Stars and Stripes logo; photo of Jacqueline Smith outlined in blue
A pillar of smoke rose near the headquarters for the U.S. Naval Support Activity base in Bahrain, the visible result of a missile likely flung from Iran in retaliation for the nascent war.
A Stars and Stripes reporter based in nearby Manama, Bahrain’s capital, heard it. She ran to the roof.
