Stars and Stripes | The U.S. military's independent news source.

Subscribe

Coalition service members, assigned to Task Force Viking, Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, pose after conducting a close quarters live-fire exercise at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Oct.30, 2023. Members of the Coalition maintain crew proficiency and readiness to better advise, assist and enable partner forces in the ongoing effort to defeat Daesh. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Damion Clark)

US forces have killed or captured dozens of ISIS fighters in Mideast in recent weeks, military says

American forces have killed or captured dozens of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria in the past month, amid an uptick in attacks against U.S. bases in those countries.

RELATED 6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney returns from eastern Mediterranean deployment
RELATED Rocket attack targets US Embassy in Baghdad, causing minor damage but no casualties

The U.S. military operates at multiple sites across Poland, including the Army installations shown here. An agreement between Washington and Warsaw calls for Poland to spend on facilities required by U.S. forces in the country. A finalized version of the 2024 defense authorization bill shows Warsaw spending nearly $300 million on base upgrades.

Poland to spend $284 million on base improvements for US troops

Cmdr. Adam K. Pendleton was dismissed Dec. 8 as commanding officer of Navy Talent Acquisition Group Pacific, one of 26 offices across the country that manage recruiting of new sailors, the Navy said.

Navy removes top recruiter for Los Angeles region

House lawmakers urge federal watchdog to probe safety issues with tiltrotor Ospreys

Air Force awards posthumous medals to Japan-based airmen lost in Osprey crash

Tuberville co-sponsors bill to give back pay to military officers he blocked from promotions

more top news

124th Army-Navy Game: 9,000 stories

Diminutive and mysterious, the Pentagon’s X-37B set to launch again

Navy spy plane passes over Taiwan Strait with Chinese fighter jets in tow

US imposes sanctions in wake of Houthi attacks on ships in Middle East

6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney returns from eastern Mediterranean deployment

With passing of veterans who faced Pearl Harbor surprise attack, legacy shifts to the young

DOD IG report highlights health care access issues in US military communities worldwide

Army employee charged with stealing $100 million from fund for military children

SPONSORED CONTENT

Multimedia

military matters podcast

Military Matters signs off for the final time

branches

Army

FILE - Snow accumulates outside a restaurant at a makeshift memorial for the victims of last month's mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. The four members of Maine's congressional delegation are calling for an Army investigation into the events leading up to a mass shooting in the state in the wake of meeting with families affected by the killings. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Maine’s congressional delegation calls for Army investigation into Lewiston shooting

Army employee charged with stealing $100 million from fund for military children

US airborne soldiers in Vicenza area add to big jump in toy haul for Italian kids

Air Force

CV-22 Ospreys assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron approach an MC-130J Commando II for aerial refueling over the Sea of Japan, March 17, 2023.

House lawmakers urge federal watchdog to probe safety issues with tiltrotor Ospreys

NY National Guard’s 105th Air Wing, known for missions in Vietnam, Afghanistan, turns 75

Air Force awards posthumous medals to Japan-based airmen lost in Osprey crash

Navy

Cmdr. Adam K. Pendleton was dismissed Dec. 8 as commanding officer of Navy Talent Acquisition Group Pacific, one of 26 offices across the country that manage recruiting of new sailors, the Navy said.

Navy removes top recruiter for Los Angeles region

6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney returns from eastern Mediterranean deployment

USS Pearl Harbor makes Hawaii pit stop

Space Force

An X-37B orbital test vehicle concludes its sixth successful mission.

Diminutive and mysterious, the Pentagon’s X-37B set to launch again

Space Force starts work for top US commands in Europe and Africa

SpaceX Starship’s second uncrewed launch ends in explosion

Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard prepares to offload about 18,219 pounds of cocaine off the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche in San Diego on Dec. 6, 2023. The seized drugs have an estimated street value of $239 million.

Coast Guard drug offload highlights cocaine’s path from South America to San Diego

Coast Guard reckons with a years-long coverup of sexual abuse in report

Coast Guard cites lack of training in deadly ship fire. Legislator wants to change that.

Marine Corps

First lady Jill Biden takes a photo with guests during a Toys for Tots event with local Marine Corps and military-connected families on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Washington.

Jill Biden and military kids sort toys the White House donated to the Marine Corps Reserve program

Jill Biden and military kids sort toys the White House donated to the Marine Corps Reserve program

Japanese prosecutors indict US Marine accused of punching elderly woman in face

theaters

U.S.

Israeli soldiers work on a tank at an army staging area near Israel's border with Gaza, southern Israel, Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. on the fourth day of a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

State Department approves the sale of tank ammunition to Israel in a deal that bypasses Congress

Thousands of revelers descend on NYC for annual Santa-themed bar crawl SantaCon

DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy try to make their case in Iowa days after a combative GOP debate

Europe

Municipal workers dismantle a monument to Soviet military leader Mykola Shchors in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023. Shchors was a Ukrainian communist who fought with the Soviet army against Ukrainian independence following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. Ukraine has accelerated efforts to erase the vestiges of centuries of Soviet and Russian influence from the public space since full-scale Russian invasion last February. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A Soviet-era statue of a Red Army commander taken down in Kyiv

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy appears increasingly embattled as US backing wavers

Polish truck drivers are blocking the border with Ukraine. It’s hurting on the battlefield

Asia-Pacific

From left, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, South Korean National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong and Japanese National Security Secretariat Secretary-General Takeo Akiba pose before a joint news conference in Seoul on Dec. 9.

US, South Korea, Japan urge stronger international push to curb North Korean nuclear program

South Korea defense chief threatens strikes on ‘heart and head’ of North Korea if provoked

US troop levels in South Korea will hold study under defense budget proposal

Middle East

Activists demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Protests at UN climate talks, from cease-fire calls to detainees, see ‘shocking level of censorship’

Turkey’s Erdogan accuses the West of ‘barbarism’ and Islamophobia in the war in Gaza

Israel presses ahead with bombarding Gaza, including to areas where it told Palestinians to evacuate

Africa

UN soldiers stand guard in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Nov. 30, 2012.

United Nations bemoans struggles to fund peacekeeping as nations demand withdrawal of missions

UN says Africa faces unprecedented food crisis, with 3 in 4 people unable to afford a healthy diet

Bazaar situation: US troops in Niger soak up village culture in wake of coup

Americas

Karla Acevedo Perez, 11, sits with her mother, siblings, uncles and grandparents at the Lodi Migrant Center in October. Four generations of the Perez family have worked as migrant farmworkers in California.

‘We need to survive’: California forces migrant farmworker students to move every year

As Venezuela threatens to invade oil-rich Guyana, US worries about how far Maduro will go

New US-Mexico agreement to monitor foreign investments comes as more Chinese money flows into Mexico

Explore

from our community sites

Europe

St. Nicholas and the Boots

Who is Knecht Ruprecht?

10 Books for the 2023 holiday season

Japan

Get some stress-free shut eye with a view at Tokyo’s Innovation City hotel

My Faves: Japanese frozen food

Airmen playing Santa carry out DOD’s longest running humanitarian-aid mission

Korea

VIDEO: Tteokguk - Good luck, longevity in a Korean bowl

Christmas arrives early at Seoul’s department stores

Exploring Korea: Navigating bathhouses in ROK

Okinawa

Camp Foster students host cultural exchange with off base school

On hallowed ground: Tuning in to Japan's temple-shrine dichotomy

31 Japanese dishes you didn't know about

Guam

Exploring Guam: Trekking to beautiful Gadao's Cave

Fun on Guam: Jeff's Pirates Cove to host Tropical Christmas Bazaar Dec. 10

Tour of Guam Cycling to be held Dec. 10

Veterans

Volunteers put in many hours to complete work on the floor in the Veteran Community Room at the new Americans for Independent Living facility in Waterloo, Iowa, in December 2023.

Volunteers rally to create community space for veterans in Waterloo

Dozens of volunteers descended upon an empty Waterloo building to paint walls, unpack furniture and clean up a space that will soon be Americans for Independent Living’s new headquarters after Lowe’s, the home improvement store, provided $85,000 to the nonprofit that assists veterans.

Sports

Hohenfels’ 23 Jacob Idowu goes for a layup following an offensive rebound against the Sigonella Jaguars Saturday. Idowu scored 47 points over two games leading his team in scoring for the weekend.

Hohenfels boys, Sigonella girls win early D-III battles

Alconbury hosts teams from Germany and Sicily for six games in second weekend of DODEA-Europe basketball season.

History

Pleiku, South Vietnam, Dec. 20, 1966: Diane Shelton, baton twirling champion, waits behind the stage for her performance at the Bob Hope Christmas Show. Hope's legendary variety-style holiday show toured bases, trenches and hillsides for decades with a vast array of entertainers starting in WWII. In 1964 Hope took the first of nine USO trips to Vietnam. He would record his final "Bob Hope Chirstmas Show" from Vietnam in 1972, but continued touring with the USO until 1990. Of the servicemembers he preformed for Hope said in 1991 “It’s the best audience.”

Looking for Stars and Stripes’ coverage of the Vietnam War? Subscribe to Stars and Stripes’ historic newspaper archive! We have digitized our 1948-1999 European and Pacific editions, as well as several of our WWII editions and made them available online through https://starsandstripes.newspaperarchive.com/

META TAGS: Bob Hope Christmas Show; Vietnam War; war; entertainment; music; holidays; celebrity; leisure; comedy; stage; dance; culture; Army; Infantry

Backstage at the Bob Hope Christmas Show, 1966

Pleiku, South Vietnam, Dec. 20, 1966: Diane Shelton, baton twirling champion, waits behind the stage for her performance at the Bob Hope Christmas Show.

Living

Tanya and Michael Trotter, the married couple who perform as The War and Treaty, will perform for service members in Korea and on Guam from Dec. 14-18. Michael Trotter is an Army veteran who served in Iraq.

‘It’s music, it’s real, it’s honest’: The War and Treaty set to perform at four bases this month

Not only did Michael Trotter, Jr., serve in Iraq as part of the U.S. Army, but he, along with the other half of The War and Treaty, his wife Tanya, is set to perform for the troops in South Korea and Guam this month.

Travel

Soaring Eagle Wetland near State College, Pa, isn’t as strenuous to hike as Mount Nittany. The first part, Galen and Nancy Dreibelbis Birding Area, offers two accessible blinds where you are sure to spot a variety of finches, wood ducks and more. Bring your binoculars. The second part is an accessible route through wetlands to the fishable Bald Eagle Creek, a path made possible through the Wildlife For Everyone Foundation.

Happy Valley, Pa., offers more than just college sporting events

Dinner at Essentia Dimora Rurale, an agriturismo in Molise. The owner, Salvatore Zeoli, guided the evening’s 20 or so diners into his farmland as a way of introducing a meal made entirely of local ingredients, which Washington Post reporter Chico Harlan’s wife described as special because of its unabashed simplicity.

Far off the tourist track, Molise offers the best parts of Italy

Shangri-La Mactan, Cebu in 2017. The Philippines has long been interested in attracting Filipinos in the U.S. to come and add to the economy, but its incentives have mostly drawn retirees or immigrants catching up with relatives. Today, they are honing in on young Filipino American professionals who live on TikTok and Instagram.

The Philippines aims at a younger generation of Filipino American travelers