A lot has already been said about the importance of @starsandstripes, and I’d +1 all of that. But I wanted to add a few things. 1. In Okinawa, the only way families can get reliable info about typhoons headed their way, in English, is @DaveOrnauer. That’s a big deal.

2. The only American news outlet with a presence in Bahrain (that I know of... and I lived there for two years) is @starsandstripes. Pretty much everyone else is in Dubai.

3. I worked for @starsandstripes for 3.5 years, and there were many times when I was the only non-local reporter, or only reporter at all, covering a given story. They cover things others don’t, and cover them in a different way b/c they have a different audience.

4. In many places I embedded or visited in Afghanistan, there is very limited access (or none at all) to commercial internet. Troops usually aren’t going to go to the USO or use their one hour of access to read news online, which means @starsandstripes is their only news source.

5. Navy ships also have limited access to extremely terrible internet (think 90s dial up). And there isn’t anywhere for those sailors to go to get WiFi. @starsandstripes is their only option.

6. People always ask why @starsandstripes can’t support itself financially. But think about how expensive and logistically challenging it is to deliver papers to combat bases and ships at sea. Doesn’t make sense for a money-making operation.