Serving the U.S. Military

Stars and Stripes delivers independent news and information daily to the U.S. military community worldwide.

Although we are authorized by the Department of Defense, we are more like American newspapers than military publications. Why? Because we retain editorial independence from outside influence or control; no one can tell us what stories to cover or how to cover them. Like other U.S. papers, Stars and Stripes enjoys the unique privileges granted under the First Amendment to our Constitution.

As the "hometown newspaper" for servicemembers, government civilians, and their families, Stars and Stripes pursues a mission of keeping readers informed. Seven days a week, five editions a day, we cover issues in their host countries, local communities, and commands, as well as national and world news.

Stars and Stripes got its start in 1861 as a one-page newspaper produced for Union troops by four soldiers who used a captured newspaper plant in Bloomfield, Missouri. Today, there is a Stars and Stripes Museum & Library located in that same town. The paper resumed publication in Paris in 1918 during World War I as a weekly put out by an all-military staff. Publication ceased at the end of the war. Copies of our 1918 editions may be found online at the Library of Congress.

Stars and Stripes was once again reborn, this time during World War II, in London, England. The paper has been published continuously since 1942 in Europe and 1945 in the Pacific. Stripes reporters -- at one time all military, but now both civilian and military -- have been in the field with American soldiers, sailors and airmen in every major conflict, from World War I through Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Today we also serve deployed troops throughout the Middle East.

Our coverage of the Middle East can be found here. Altogether, Stars and Stripes has news bureaus in over 22 different locations serving over 48 countries around the world.

At one time, Stars and Stripes had stand-alone operations in Europe and in Pacific. These two theaters were consolidated in 1999; Washington, D.C. now hosts the paper's central offices. There, five different editions are designed and produced daily and then sent via satellite to 12 remote printing locations, including three in Europe (Germany, Italy and Spain). In Afghanistan, we print in Kabul and distribute newspapers daily to Kabul, Kandahar, Bagram, Camp Salerno and other bases. We also print in Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Djibouti, Qatar and Seoul, South Korea.

Print editions are distributed only at military facilities overseas, but readers can read Stars and Stripes in its digital version, in its five editions. Stories are sarchable, can be bookmarked and shared with others.

For more about Stars and Stripes, please visit www.stripes.com.