U.S.
The best of Stars and Stripes: 2022 in photos
Stars and Stripes
December 30, 2022
Patrick Creed, a retired U.S. Army major, guides members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces as they clear a stairwell at a training site outside Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 2, 2022. Creed is a member of The Mozart Group, a private security company of mostly military veterans who traveled to Ukraine to train that country’s troops. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
The defining image of 2022 — Russia invades Ukraine — certainly occupied the U.S. military’s time and attention, leading to billions in aid, including weapons, ammunition and expertise.
But there was more to 2022 than Ukraine.
Following are some of the year’s most compelling photos from Stars and Stripes journalists, and the stories they helped tell.
Patrick Creed, a retired U.S. Army major, evaluates members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces as they rush through the hallway of an abandoned building and clear potentially dangerous rooms as part of training outside Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 2, 2022. Creed traveled to Ukraine in March 2022 to use his experience as an Army Ranger to instruct troops fighting Russia forces. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
Alla Golumbiivska, a member of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces, prepares for training on how to clear potentially dangerous rooms as part of instruction provided by U.S. military veterans at a location outside Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 2, 2022. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
A member of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces on Nov. 2, 2022, holds Combat Cat, a feline companion that lives next to a military training site outside Kyiv, Ukraine. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
November: The Mozart Group, a U.S. veteran-led private security company, has provided a crash-course training program for Ukrainian troops. Its staff has grown to nearly 30 highly experienced trainers made up of mostly former American service members.
◆◆◆
As a crowd of onlookers circle around, Sen Jon Tester, D-Mont., observes a moment of silence as he pays his respects before the casket of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams, who was lying in honor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on July 14, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
At left, U.S. Rep Brian mast, R-Mich., a double amputee Army veteran, salutes as he pays his respects before the casket of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams, who was lying in honor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on July 14, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
A U.S. military honor guard carries the casket of WWII veteran Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams up the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where he was to lie in honor for several hours on Thursday, July 14, 2022. Williams, who was the last living Medal of Honor recipient who fought in World War II, died on June 29. He was 98. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
July: Lawmakers, military officials and members of the public gathered at the U.S. Capitol to pay respects to Hershel “Woody” Williams, who was the last remaining World War II recipient of the Medal of Honor.
◆◆◆
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force troops board an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. (Juan King/Stars and Stripes)
January: More than 100 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers assembled at Yokota, the U.S. airlift hub in western Tokyo, to gear up and board an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules. They were bound for the Camp Narashino training grounds in Chiba prefecture.
◆◆◆
The USS George H.W. Bush in the Bay of Naples on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. The aircraft carrier, on deployment to the Mediterranean Sea since August, was in Naples for a port call. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)
November: The George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group encountered Russian aircraft and ships as it supported NATO operations in southern Europe, and in one recent case the Russian force behaved unprofessionally, Navy officials said.
◆◆◆
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville addresses soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Romania, during his visit on Dec. 16, 2022. About 5,000 soldiers from the division are operating in Europe, with the bulk of the force anchored in Romania. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
December: The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, deployed on the division’s first operational mission in Europe since World War II, functions as the most forward-based American unit in proximity to the fighting in Ukraine.
◆◆◆
Army Spc. Joseph Neitz points out possible hiding spots for scorpions with Staff Sgt. Eric Bejarano while walking through the desert near Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait on Nov. 28, 2022. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
Army Spc. Joseph Neitz shows off a camel spider caught on Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and then encased in resin as a memento. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
December: People stationed at Ali Al Salem have gone on some 100 scorpion hunts since the spring. The nighttime journeys into the desert attracted hundreds seeking to bag a scorpion or a camel spider during their tour to Kuwait.
◆◆◆
A formation of C-130J Super Hercules of the 37th Airlift Squadron fly over Ramstein Air Base, Germany, before landing at the base. The unit celebrated its 80th anniversary with a large formation mission and a parachute jump onto the base. Today’s squadron was founded as the 37th Transport Squadron in 1942 at Patterson Field, Ohio. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. Army paratroopers from Stuttgart, Germany, prepare to jump out the side door of a C-130J Super Hercules during a training flight on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, over Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Jennifer Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Nine C-130J Super Hercules, flying together in a formation, dropped 90 paratroopers in quick succession onto a grassy landing zone between the base’s two runways, May 25, 2022, to celebrate the 37th Airlift Squadron’s 80th anniversary. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
May: Nine C-130J Super Hercules airplanes flew in formation and dropped 90 paratroopers onto a grassy landing zone between two runways at Ramstein Air Force Base. The 37th Airlift Squadron orchestrated the training exercise to commemorate its inception 80 years ago at Patterson Field, Ohio, during World War II.
◆◆◆
A Texas National Guard observation post is set up along a road in Mission, Texas, on Jan. 19, 2022. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers walk through a row of bed trailers at Base Camp Walker in Laredo, Texas, on Feb. 13, 2022. Each trailer can house dozens of soldiers in three-tiered bunk beds. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
March: Living at Base Camp Walker and about four other camps in West Texas became so bleak for some troops serving as part of Operation Lone Star that they went to the Texas State Employees Union for membership and advocacy. That step followed months of anonymously reaching out to news reporters to shed light on the conditions.
◆◆◆
Children from the Grafenwoehr Elementary School are greeted by fourth-grade teacher Nell Dunn, Aug. 22, 2022, in Grafenwoehr, Germany. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
Students walk with their new classmates and teachers on the first day of school at Kaiserslautern Elementary School in Kaiserslautern, Germany, Aug. 22, 2022. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Air Force Master Sgt. Kassandra Maxcy dances with her daughter, Emily, a fourth grader at Kaiserslautern Elementary School, in Kaiserslautern, Germany, on the first day of school, Aug. 22, 2022. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Students and their parents arrive for the first day of classes at Joan K. Mendel Elementary School on Yokota Air Base, Japan, Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. (Juan King/Stars and Stripes)
August: Students at Department of Defense Education Activity schools around the world started a new school year as the COVID-19 pandemic faded into the scholastic background.
◆◆◆
Yokota High School students prepare for takeoff aboard a C-130J Super Hercules at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
March: The 36th Airlift Squadron celebrated women in aviation by taking Yokota High School students aloft and talking about women’s achievements in the air.
◆◆◆
Angel Luna, an American veteran who traveled to Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022, shows off his tattoo which reads “Protect Freedom, not just for your country but for all” while at a training site outside of Kyiv on Oct. 27, 2022. Luna, who served in the North Carolina National Guard, quit his job in a Walmart warehouse to join Task Force Yankee Ukraine, a group which provides humanitarian aid and medical training to Ukrainians. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
Ukrainian special forces soldiers jump from their seats and dive onto the floor as they rush to put on tourniquets during first aid training at a site outside Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 27, 2022. Each troop must place the tourniquet on themselves within 30 seconds, the point at which blood loss can impair the brain’s ability to function. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
A Ukrainian soldier moves with his squad under simulated fire to retrieve a casualty during training at a site on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Oct. 27, 2022. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
November: Founded by four U.S. veterans in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Task Force Yankee Ukraine has crisscrossed the country to prepare more than 12,000 Ukrainians to treat the unique injuries of war.
◆◆◆
Soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Division conduct an air assault exercise during the Warrior Week competition at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Wednesday, May 4, 2022. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes )
Army Staff Sgt. Stiven Cedeno, an attack helicopter repairer with the 602nd Aviation Support Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, studies his notes during a flight from Camp Casey to Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Wednesday, May 4, 2022. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes )
May: Warrior week in Camp Casey, South Korea, is meant to identify “the best of the best” and to get “soldiers back to the idea of mastering the fundamentals.”
◆◆◆
Tech. Sgt. Matthew Byous stands in front of an F-35A Lightning II at the 48th Equipment Maintenance Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, England, March 24, 2022. Byous, a third-generation airman, has been part of a working group seeking ways to help commanders and subordinates better communicate. (Kyle Alvarez/Stars and Stripes)
April: Lakenheath airmen worked on a method, Foundations, which many believe is a tool that could help improve workplace conditions and fight pernicious issues such as self-harm and sexual misconduct.
◆◆◆
Senior Airman Marissa Antillonloya, a loadmaster with the 37th Airlift Squadron, adjusts a cable inside a C-130J for a static line jump. Antillonloya was one of 17 women who flew on an all-women, three-aircraft formation training flight on March 18, 2022, out of Ramstein Air Base. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Capt. Tiffany Haines goes over a preflight checklist before a training flight on Friday, March 18, 2022, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. A member of the 37th Airlift Squadron, Haines is among a small group of women in a unit that’s busy shuttling personnel and supplies in support of the NATO mission in Eastern Europe. Haines led an all-women, three-aircraft formation as part of her training. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
March: Three C-130s out of Ramstein Air Base on a mission earned an unusual distinction: They flew the first training formation with all-women crew members in the squadron’s history, which goes back to World War II.
◆◆◆
An M1 Abrams crew member waits for crew instructions during Exercise Combined Resolve 17 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, in Hohenfels, Germany, June 8, 2022. Combined Resolve is a U.S. Army exercise involving 5,600 U.S. service members, allies, and partners from more than 10 countries. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
A Project Origin robotic combat vehicle drives across a demonstration area during exercise Combined Resolve 17 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, June 8, 2022. Opposing Forces used the concept vehicle to challenge exercise participants during field maneuvers. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
June: During the Exercise Combined Resolve 17 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, in Hohenfels, Germany, a new robotic ground vehicle called Project Origin made its multinational debut.
◆◆◆
South Korean navy sailors welcome the USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group to Busan, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
September: The USS Ronald Reagan and its roughly 5,000 crew members arrived at Busan, South Korea’s largest port.
◆◆◆
A soldier with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment low-crawls through the mud as part of Expert Infantryman Badge testing Sept. 14, 2022, at the Vilseck training area in Germany. The soldiers were on display as the African Land Forces Colloquium took a tour of the testing and training at the range. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
A soldier with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment drags a simulated casualty as part of the Expert infantryman Badge testing on Sept. 14, 2022, at the Vilseck training area. The soldiers were on display as the African Land Forces Colloquium took a tour of the testing and training at the range. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
September: High-ranking military leaders from Africa joined over 350 U.S. soldiers on Vilseck’s training grounds as the Army fulfilled its part in a broader strategy that calls for deepening ties on the continent.
◆◆◆
Comedian Jon Stewart and Rosie Torres, co-founder and executive director of the advocacy group Burn Pits 360, hug Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, after the Senate passed the PACT Act by a vote of 86 to 11. Torres said her husband, Army Reserve veteran LeRoy Torres, deployed to Camp Anaconda in Iraq and returned with terminal lung disease, toxic brain injury and autoimmune issues. (Sara Samora/Stars and Stripes)
August: The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, or PACT Act, passed the Senate by a vote of 86 to 11. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Aug. 10.
◆◆◆
Airman 1st Class Ryan Koerner, a cargo processing specialist with the 721st Aerial Port Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, wraps baby formula in plastic on May 21, 2022, before it was flown to the United States to help ease a national shortage. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
May: More than 130 pallets filled with baby formula departed from Ramstein Air Base on a C-17 aircraft a little after 5 a.m. Germany time as part of Operation Fly Formula.
◆◆◆
Army Black Knights kicker Quinn Maretzki kicks a field goal during the 123rd Army-Navy football game held at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field stadium on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. Army beat Navy 20-17 in double overtime. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Just before the start of the 123rd Army-Navy football game, four Army helicopters performed a flyover of the Lincoln Financial Field stadium in Philadelphia, where 69,117 people were in attendance on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Two Army cadets hug in celebration moments after the Black Knights won the 123rd Army-Navy football game, defeating the Midshipmen 20-17 in double overtime at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Naval Academy Midshipmen raise a cheer for their team during a timeout in the 123rd Army-Navy football game played at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
The A-Man, Army Academy sophomore Dylan Carmoey, flexes some muscles during the annual Army-Navy football game played in Philadelphia on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. Army won 20-17 in double overtime. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
December: It took overtime to decide the Army-Navy game for the first time in the 123-year history of the classic rivalry. In the end, Army survived 20-17 in double overtime.
◆◆◆
A photo of a Ukrainian soldier killed in May rests among hundreds of small flags commemorating war dead at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the central square of Kyiv, the country’s capital, on Oct. 26, 2022. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
October: As Russia’s invasion continued to grind on in Ukraine, people in the capital Kyiv commemorated the fallen while trying to live their everyday lives in the midst of war.
◆◆◆
Liza, a child from Kyiv, Ukraine, waits to refill her toy watering can at a public fountain in Taras Shevchenko Park on Oct. 31, 2022. At least 50 residents flocked to the park to collect water, with some saying they were regulars at the pump and some saying they came due to a Russian missile attack that morning that left many homes and offices without water. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
October: Russian missile strikes knocked out the water supply to most of Kyiv, and residents streamed to a fountain at a public park to fill up their water bottles.
◆◆◆
A girl hugs her stuffed animals as she crosses the border from Ukraine into Poland with her mother, March 2, 2022, at the Medyka crossing. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Volunteers feed refugees from Ukraine at the Przemysl, Poland, train station, March 2, 2022. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
March: The angst over what awaited Ukrainian refugees in Poland was outweighed only by the danger of staying behind in Kyiv, where Russia had stepped up its attacks, a refugee said as she crossed the border.
◆◆◆
Mziia Dvali, a Georgian native living in Kyiv, Ukraine, weeps at the casket of Gurgen Gagnidze at a funeral at St. Volodymyr's Cathedral on Nov. 1, 2022. Dvali, 66, said she felt immense grief thinking about the death of Gagnidze, a 40-year-old soldier in the Georgian Legion who died in late October while fighting Russian troops. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)
November: Mourners gathered to bid farewell to a soldier who died in combat. But they knew little about him. Gurgen “Guga” Gagnidze arrived in Ukraine four months earlier and was killed in combat. He was the 23rd volunteer from the tiny former Soviet republic of Georgia to die fighting the Russians in Ukraine.
◆◆◆
Japanese military supplies bound for Ukraine are loaded onto an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
March: A 38-ton shipment of nonlethal military supplies left Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo bound for Ukraine. The supplies included helmets and bulletproof vests donated by Japan.
◆◆◆
U.S. Marines take part in Exercise Predator’s Run at Mount Bundey Training Area in Australia's Northern Territory, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
August: Exercise Predator’s Run faced the multinational force of Marines and Indonesian and Philippine troops under the Australian Army’s 1st Brigade against other Australian troops role-playing as the enemy.
◆◆◆
Airmen of the 3rd Air Force stand in formation led by their commander, Maj. Gen. Derek France, during a change of command ceremony June 27, 2022, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. France took the reins of the only numbered air force in U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa on June 22. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
June: Maj. Gen. Derek France took the reins of the 3rd Air Force — and its 32,000 American airmen — the only numbered air force in USAFE-AFAFRICA.
◆◆◆
Guards at U.S. Army Regional Correctional Facility-Europe practice a maneuver used to remove noncompliant inmates from their cells Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
November: For nearly a decade, U.S. service members accused or convicted of crimes in Europe and Africa have been brought to a jail that many Germans and Americans living in the area know little about.
◆◆◆
Air Force Capt. Kaitlyn Betts holds her newborn daughter, Raegan McKenna Betts, after giving birth at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany on July 20, 2022. Air Force Maj. Khimea Sayles, left, and Air Force Capt. Jenny Davis, clinical nurses at LRMC, stand next to her. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
July: Landstuhl Regional Medical Center reconfigured its neonatal wing to keep patients in familiar surroundings. Women who give birth there will now most likely spend their entire time recovering after delivery in the same room.
◆◆◆
Army Spc. Brodi Curry, an intelligence analyst with the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, prepares to deploy for the first time as a soldier on Tuesday, March 2, 2022, at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Fort Stewart soldiers with the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team prepare to board a flight bound for Germany out of Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., on Tuesday, March 2, 2022. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
March: Roughly 3,800 soldiers of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division ordered to Europe on a short-notice deployment to deter Russian aggression became the first unit to draw heavy armored weapons — including tanks — from the Army’s prepositioned stocks on the Continent.
◆◆◆
A soldier checks out a display inside the newly renovated 2nd Infantry Division, Eighth Army and Korean Theater of Operations Museum at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Oct. 19, 2022. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
October: The 2nd Infantry Division, Eighth Army and Korean Theater of Operations Museum at Camp Humphreys, South Korea — dedicated to telling the history of the Eighth Army and the 2nd Infantry Division — reopened after a $2.1 million renovation.
◆◆◆
From left, Tech. Sgt. Matthew Waldeck, Senior Airman Jake Stallone and Staff. Sgt. Joseph Park, from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey’s 728th Air Mobility Squadron, flip a tire during the endurance event at the Port Dawg Rodeo at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, July 6, 2022. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
July: The 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing Port Dawg Rodeo tested the 10 five-member squads’ skills and abilities in aerial port operations, whose practitioners proudly call themselves “port dawgs.”
◆◆◆
U.S. Army soldiers evacuate a pilot with simulated injuries during the European Best Sniper competition, Hohenfels training area, Germany, Aug. 8, 2022. (Michael Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
August: The European Best Sniper Team Competition at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, brought together 36 pairs from 18 countries.
◆◆◆
Firefighters assigned to the 86th Civil Engineer Group respond to a real medical emergency call involving an unconscious base employee at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, July 26, 2022. The first responders answered the emergency call in the midst of an ongoing simulated aircraft crash exercise scenario. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
July: The scripted emergency scenarios devised to kick off a basewide exercise gave way to an actual urgent situation at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, providing a real test of the 86th Airlift Wing’s ability to respond.
◆◆◆
Marines summon motivation on Sports Day at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, on Oct. 28, 2022. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)
October: At Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, a group of enlisted sailors with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force coordinated a sports competition with their U.S. Marine and Navy counterparts.
◆◆◆
Space Force guardians march Thursday, June 23, 2022, during basic training graduation at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes )
June: The Space Force’s 71 newest guardians marched in two flights across a heat-scorched parade field, bringing yet another first to the youngest branch of the military — the first boot camp graduates to train under a unique, Space Force-centric curriculum.
◆◆◆
Meri Mion of Vicenza, who was 13 on the day 77 years ago when U.S. soldiers arrived in the city, liberated it from the Germans and then took her birthday cake, cried when the cake was replaced by U.S. Army Garrison Italy at a ceremony, April 28, 2022. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
April: U.S. tankers and infantry soldiers helped liberate Vicenza, Italy, during WWII, braving German sniper fire on the city's Corso San Felice Fortunato, or street of lucky fortune. Then they liberated a teenager's birthday cake. Seventy-seven years later, they replaced it.
◆◆◆
Brig. Gen. Otis C. Jones salutes his airmen during the 86th Airlift Wing change of command ceremony on Friday, July 15, 2022, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Jones took command from Brig. Gen. Josh M. Olson, who is moving on to an assignment at the Pentagon after leading the wing for nearly two years. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
July: Brig. Gen. Otis Jones, a former Air Force Academy basketball star and the new commander of the largest Air Force wing in Europe and Africa, pledged his very best to the 8,000 airmen now in his command.
◆◆◆
A U.S. Marine stands watch as a U.S. Army High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, drives off an MC-130J Commando II at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport in Palembang, Indonesia, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
The U.S. Army’s Tropic Lightning Band performs at Baturaja University in Indonesia, Aug. 11, 2022. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
August: Indonesians gathered to watch as American and Indonesian aircraft delivered long-range artillery systems as part of part of Super Garuda Shield involving 2,000 American and 2,000 Indonesian troops. The U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division’s Tropic Lightning Band was among the U.S. troops on hand for the exercise.
◆◆◆
Anne McEnerny-Ogle points to the name of her uncle, Charles D. McEnerny engraved on the new Wall of Remembrance at the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Korean War veteran Ron Twentey, from Hagerstown, Md., fans himself during a ceremony to dedicate the Wall of Remembrance addition to the Korean War Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
July: Hundreds of veterans, service members, families and others gathered at the Korean War Veterans Memorial for a ceremony to dedicate the Wall of Remembrance, a newly added portion of the memorial that commemorates each person who died in the Korean War.
◆◆◆
Akari Terahara, 11, holds a photo of her relative, Norito Myochin, during a flag-return ceremony at Gokoku Shrine in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)
Richard and Chris Johnson honor their father and grandfather, Marine veteran Richard Wanlass Johnson, during a flag-return ceremony at Gokoku Shrine in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)
December: A U.S. Marine’s family returned a ‘good luck flag’ to the family of a Japanese sailor who carried it with him in battle during World War II.
◆◆◆
Jamie Jamison gently touches a commemorative stele that marks the area where her great uncle died in 1944 during a visit to the site May 28, 2022. Jamison is the great niece of Bernard Gautier, one of the two Office of Strategic Services men killed during a firefight with German troops near the village of Le Rialet. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
May: Memorial Day weekend events commemorated the men of the Office of Strategic Services who parachuted in to help France’s resistance fighters in their struggle against the Nazis.
◆◆◆
A girl pays her respects at the Wall of the Missing during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Cambridge American Cemetery on Monday, May 30, 2022. (Kyle Alvarez/Stars and Stripes)
May: More than 1,200 attendees gathered on Memorial Day to remember those buried or honored at the Cambridge American Cemetery in England.
◆◆◆
U.S. and allied ships sail in formation with the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Adriatic Sea on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)
February: U.S. and NATO officials said that the Russian military was shadowing U.S. ships participating in a multinational exercise in the Adriatic Sea.
◆◆◆
Participants of a special all-female Honor Flight watch members of a Marine Corps drill team perform outside the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Members of a Marine Corps drill team greet participants of a special all-female Honor Flight trip to the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Sitting in a wheel chair at left is World War II Army veteran Ruth Jones, 97. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
May: It took almost three years to make happen, but 109 women veterans from Florida were finally able to visit the nation’s capital in an all-female Honor Flight and see memorials that honor those who served.
◆◆◆
Kahu Hailama Farden performs a traditional Hawaiian blessing as o’o sticks are used to break ground for a new maintenance hangar at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes)
January: The $80-million aviation maintenance hangar at Wheeler Army Airfield in Hawaii will include a six-bay hangar, maintenance shops, administrative space and storage for parts, ground-support equipment and hazardous materials.
◆◆◆
An activist plays the roll of death during a “Dance of the Dead” protest against war in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, June 25, 2022. Protesters wore skeleton costumes and skull masks to call attention the affects of the weapons manufacturing and military industry. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
June: Around 250 peace activists demonstrated outside Ramstein Air Base to protest Western support of the war in Ukraine, German rearmament and the NATO summit in Madrid.
◆◆◆
Col. Joe Ewers, commander of the 2nd Calvary Regiment, talks to the media at Vilseck Army Airfield, Germany, as his troops prepare to deploy to Romania, Feb. 9, 2022. About 1,000 soldiers are being sent to Romania to reassure allies worried about Russia. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
February: The Vilseck-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment soldiers prepared to head to Romania for an open-ended deployment meant to reassure allies worried about Russia’s military buildup around Ukraine.
◆◆◆
Leaders from U.S. Army Pacific and the Japan Self-Defense Force pose following a press conference at Amami Oshima, Japan, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
September: The commander of U.S. Army Pacific and the head of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force staged a news conference on Amami Oshima days after the largest military exercise the two nations’ armies regularly undertake had concluded.
◆◆◆
Lance Cpl. Adrian Bates, a motor transport operator with Combat Logistics Detachment, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, works at Setermoen Military Camp, Norway, on Saturday, March 19, 2022, ahead of an upcoming training exercise. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
March: Weather has been a main focus of training for the U.S. Marines and sailors at Setermoen Military Camp in Norway, which wasn’t always the subzero weather many of them expected.
◆◆◆
From left to right, Col. Andrew Roddan, Brig. Gen. Paul Birch, Bruce Best and Col. Kyle Benwitz push a supply crate onto a C-130J Super Hercules ahead of Operation Christmas Drop humanitarian airlift missions at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
Airmen at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, complete final preparations for supply bundles bound for remote Pacific islands as part of Operation Christmas Drop, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
December: Operation Christmas Drop, the Defense Department’s longest-running humanitarian aid mission, swung into high gear again after two years of a slimmed down, COVID-19 pandemic version.
◆◆◆
Children wave to Santa Claus onstage during the tree lighting at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, on Dec. 3, 2022. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)
December: This year, with the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic over and America’s military no longer involved in the post-9/11 conflicts that kept it occupied for 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, more service members are spending the final days of December with their families.
◆◆◆
USO volunteers serve single service members a free Thanksgiving meal at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
November: At Yokota, an Air Force airlift hub in western Tokyo, the USO brought a taste of home to single service members with an early Thanksgiving meal.
◆◆◆
U.S. soldiers with Fort Benning’s 316th Cavalry Brigade exit a Stryker during a live-fire demonstration March 24, 2022, at the Georgia installation for top African military leaders during the U.S. Army’s African Land Forces Summit. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. and African military officials exit a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter after a ride above Fort Benning, Ga., March 22, 2022, during the U.S. Army’s African Land Forces Summit. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
March: A combined-arms, live-fire demonstration launched last month at the U.S. Army’s African Land Forces Summit at Fort Benning, Ga., displayed American military might for these key leaders of African armies
◆◆◆
Lance Cpl. Catherine Arnett, 24, assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, faced special court-martial charges stemming from her refusal to take a COVID-19 vaccine. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)
September: The Marine Corps dismissed its case against a lance corporal who faced special court-martial charges stemming from her refusal to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
◆◆◆
The reflection of visitors and the Washington Memorial in the background is seen on the glass panel encasing more than 645,000 fabric poppy flowers at the USAA Poppy Wall of Honor on Saturday, May 28, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
A visitor looks at a panel at the USAA Poppy Wall of Honor on Saturday, May 28, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Thousands of motorcyclists arrive in D.C. and park about a block away from the USAA Poppy Wall of Honor on Saturday, May 28, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
May: More than 645,000 poppy flowers — one for every American killed in combat since World War I — represent the cost of war and the magnitude of the sacrifices made by fallen service members.
◆◆◆
A blood moon is seen from Germantown, Md., early Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, during a total lunar eclipse. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)