Jennifer H. Svan

Jennifer reports on the U.S. military from Kaiserslautern, Germany, where she writes about the Air Force, Army and DODEA schools. She’s had previous assignments for Stars and Stripes in Japan, reporting from Yokota and Misawa air bases. Before Stripes, she worked for daily newspapers in Wyoming and Colorado. She’s a graduate of the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

@stripesktown

svan.jennifer@stripes.com

Services resist GAO advisory to give Pentagon more control over their tech budgets

Army officials argued giving the Pentagon more budget authority “could potentially delay the budget approval process,” while Navy officials said it would result in a significant increase in workload of limited value.

Food pantry workers process donations at Kadena Air Base in Japan on Jan. 13, 2026. Polling by Blue Star Families found that 22% of participants in a survey for 2025 had used a food pantry or received food from a military food distribution center in the past 12 months.

Food insecurity among military families up 12 percentage points in nonprofit’s 2025 survey

DODEA seeks feedback on school experience with survey that lacks comment feature

A German police officer’s vest reads “Polizei.”

Kaiserslautern man accused of arson, attempted murder in shelter fire

Passengers mill around at the Deutsche Bahn station in Landstuhl, Germany, on Feb. 4, 2026. A conductor for the German railway operator was killed earlier in the week by a ticketless passenger, who began punching the Deutsche Bahn employee in the head as the train was leaving Landstuhl.

Conductor dies after attack by passenger on German train leaving Landstuhl

A ticketless 26-year-old rider began punching the Deutsche Bahn worker in the head, Kaiserslautern police said. It comes as physical and verbal attacks on German train conductors have been increasing in recent years.

An American F-16 Fighting Falcon flies over England on April 15, 2025. The Defense Department awarded a $235 million multiyear contract to a Belgian company for maintenance on Ukraine’s fleet of the U.S.-made fighter jet.

Ukraine gets $235 million boost from DOD with long-term F-16 maintenance deal

The U.S. commitment to help Ukraine keep dozens of its Western combat jets in the air comes ahead of a new round of peace negotiations aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war, which is on the verge of heading into its fourth year.

An Air Force EA-37B Compass Call from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., is parked at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Jan. 26, 2026. Ramstein was the first European stop in what's billed as a road show for the jet.

Air Force’s new electronic warfare jammer aircraft makes European debut in ‘road show’

The EA-37B Compass Call’s maiden trans-Atlantic voyage and arrival at Ramstein Air Base is intended to introduce the updated platform to airmen, units and some allies “as it transitions into its operational capacity.”

Aviano’s fleet of Jolly Green II rescue helicopters filled out with arrival of No. 6

The delivery of a HH-60W Jolly Green II completes the 56th Rescue Generation Squadron’s transition to the new platform, which replaces its aging fleet of HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters.

In a screenshot from a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency video, a heavy-lift drone takes off from a base. DARPA's Lift Challenge asks competition entrants to design a drone that can carry more than four times its weight, and $6.5 million in prize money is being offered.

Millions in prize money offered in DOD contest to design drones to haul heavy loads

The competition “aims to shatter the heavy lift bottleneck” and “revolutionize the way we use drones across all sectors,” DARPA said in a statement on its website.

Ruling from Coast Guard appeals court opens door to new trial in infant’s 2020 death

The service’s Court of Criminal Appeals this month denied Petty Officer 2nd Class Kathleen Richard’s petition to prevent prosecutors from having the ability to retry her.

Over and out: Astronaut calls it quits after career that took her from Navy to NASA

Former Navy helicopter pilot Suni Williams made headlines when she and a colleague on the Starliner mission spent several months longer than planned at the International Space Station.

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IDAR-OBERSTEIN, Germany

10 May 06

Terry Boyd/Stars and Stripes

Germany's retail sector, like that in the United States, is dominated by big discount chains such as Globus, which operates supermarket/department stores.
(enw# 61p cm)

Globus Kaiserslautern to offer ‘quiet hours’ for sensory-sensitive shoppers

Former Navy Lt. Craig Becker was convicted in 2022 of premeditated murder in the 2015 death of his wife, Johanna Hove-Becker. He recently lost an appeal of the conviction in a unanimous ruling.

Murder conviction upheld for former Navy officer who pushed wife to her death in Belgium

Lt. Craig R. Becker argued that delays over jurisdiction deprived him of his right to a speedy trial and sufficient counsel. But appellate judges unanimously found none of the trial issues under consideration warranted redress.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to sailors Jan. 5, 2026, aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, which is under construction at Newport News, Va. Hegseth last month directed all of his agency's departments to award with bonuses up to $25,000 to the top 15% of their civilian employees.

Jan. 30 deadline looms for hefty performance bonuses DOD pledged to civilian workforce

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month directed departments across the Pentagon to recognize the top 15% of their civilian employees with bonuses worth 15% to 25% of their basic pay, up to $25,000.

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