COVER STORYKharwar Flood: Supporting the rule of law in a distant insurgent haven“This was bogeyman country,” said squadron commander Lt. Col. Thomas Gukeisen. “Everyone was scared to go down there and once they did, they realized it wasn’t so bad. … Everyone thought it was the training ground, the hub, the root of all evil. But they are nowhere near that. They are isolated people who had no alternative.” • Story and photo gallery

At PCS season, a push to protect petsFree dog. Cats for sale. Need a home for my pet before we move. Every year, as military families begin preparing for the summer moving season, bulletin boards, Internet chat rooms and base newspapers are bombarded with those kinds of notices. Too often, animal advocates contend, the animals are simply driven off base and pushed out of a car — abandoned in the local community. • Story

Fit for a Marine: New uniforms keep up with changing needsRecently, the Marine Corps Gruntworks facility near Quantico, Va., showed off how far Marine gear has come since combat began following Sept. 11, 2001. Almost every item worn by Marines in 2001 has been replaced. • Story

Base time capsule prematurely unearthedIn 1996, airmen with the 626th Air Mobility Support Squadron decided to stuff some mementos into a time capsule and bury it on Rhein-Main Air Base, probably hoping it would be opened 50 years later. Instead, the air base closed in 2005 and the property was turned over to the Frankfurt Airport Authority, which had plans for a new passenger terminal and some other facilities. So, on July 28 — only 13 years later — construction workers discovered the strange box. • Story

Two U.K. villages claim Obama’s ancestors hailed from thereAmid the stateside health care rage, two wars, a melting economy and that whole "birther" movement, President Obama can be forgiven for not addressing the "news" coming out of England. The British villages of Great Shelford and Stapleford, about 20 miles from RAFs Lakenheath and Mildenhall, are claiming familial ties to the 44th president. • Story

Experimental lung device kept wounded British soldier aliveA team of doctors and nurses from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center used a revolutionary device during a recent medevac mission to save the life of a British soldier wounded in Afghanistan. • Story

Spouse CallsA weekly column in Stripes' Scene magazine by Terri Barnes, a military wife and mother of three who lives and writes in Germany. • This week's column • Terri Barnes' blog

About the U.S. editionFor the first time since the Civil War, Stars and Stripes is returning stateside. The U.S. edition, available to local newspapers as a supplement, features some of the best content from the week’s daily overseas editions ... the top military stories from several news bureaus within Stars and Stripes’ three theaters — Europe, Pacific and Middle East — as well as coverage of military issues from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill.

Are you interested in advertising in the U.S. edition of Stars and Stripes, or seeing it your local newspaper? Contact Dan Krause at kraused@stripes.osd.mil, or call him at 202-761-0910.

SEE THE U.S. EDITION IN FREDERICKSBURG, VA

Migrated