Stars and Stripes

At the end of September....the US military paper....Stars and Stripes will come to an end.  The Pentagon finally ranked and prioritized things....realizing that the hundred-million cost wasn't worth it.

Some observations:

I was first introduced to Stars and Stripes in early 1978 upon arriving at Rhein Main Air Base, Germany.  At that point, it was 15 cents. 

If you wanted the US and world news, it was encapsulated into a 30-page newspaper, and the only one that you could pick up daily on base. 

The top five positives?

1.  Tons of travel advice.

2.  Letters to the editor.  Complaints about the BX dimwits, or poor planning at Army housing offices, or sloppy attire by Army housewives would always bring reality to your life.

3.  The Fred and Frank cartoon.  It was the adventures of two imaginary Army guys as they discovered all kinds of German realities.

4.  Murders and crime stories. 

5.  A brief 15-minute read gave you all the things that you really needed in life.

The negatives?

It became painfully obvious in the mid-1980s that the newspaper tightly controlled what you were told and in some cases....you were better off reading German Bild for the news that they refused to discuss. 

Somewhere between 2000 and 2005, it was obvious that people were using the internet, and avoiding buying daily copies of Stars and Stripes.  If you asked around....probably only one in twenty people read a daily copy of the newspaper.

Since returning in 2013 to Europe....I've probably picked up a total of six copies of the newspaper.  In general, they lean more to the left in terms of what news items they cover (or leave out).  The letters to the editor?  Those have been marginally left there, but you kinda notice....almost no one writes in anymore.

This effort by Senators and House members to retain the newspaper?  It basically shows how out of touch they are.  They are still living mentally in the 1990s era and think that nothing much has changed.

Once we entered the internet era....paper newspapers were not going to survive.

Note: My favorite Stars and Stripes story, which they told in great fashion.  An Army guy had a serious drinking episode to occur on his way home, and he needed some 'excuse' to tell the German wife.  He said he'd been briefly kidnapped by Red Army Faction terrorists.  She believed him, and called the German cops.  Over the course of 2 days, he holds to this story, and begins to figure out that they are getting more and more skeptical of the story (as are the Army MPs).  He finally admits it was all made-up.  But for a brief 48-hour period, Stars and Stripes carried it as a front-page item.....warning folks that Red Army folks are everywhere.  Then we were left to wonder if the German wife divorced the guy.