North Korea Hijacs U.S. Naval Vessel 1968
This nameplate was used in 1968
What so Proudly we hail 1976
This nameplate was used in 1976

COVID-19

LaDonna Spivey, a personal trainer and volunteer for the USO at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, leads a workout via Facebook Live.

USO’s online programs prove popular with troops during coronavirus lockdowns

“I think we are busier now than before the pandemic,” Yokota USO manager Mardie Marqueze-Velasquez said Wednesday. “We can’t reach them physically, but we have great teams across the globe of volunteers and staff.”

Street Beat performs during a festival at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, May 19, 2022. U.S. Forces Korea did away with its mask policy in April but allowed garrison commanders the option to require them in high-traffic areas.

US military in South Korea rescinds nearly all its COVID-19 restrictions

U.S. Forces Korea is now at Alpha, one level above an everyday health condition, and will allow its personnel to patronize all off-base businesses, USFK said.

Trevor Balint, 34, went missing at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in the early hours of Feb. 1, 2021.

Family says air base in Japan denied spouse mental health referral before suicide

In May 2020, Trevor Balint sought mental health care but was turned away because the COVID-19 pandemic had restricted access to health care on base, his mother-in-law said.

In a Dec. 15, 2019 photo, Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, gives remarks during an all-hands call on the ship's flight deck.

In speech to USS Roosevelt crew, Modly calls fired captain either 'stupid' or knowingly negligent

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly justified his firing last week of the USS Theodore Roosevelt’s skipper in a speech broadcast Monday over the ship’s public address system, calling Capt. Brett Crozier “stupid” if he thought a letter calling for his crew to be evacuated because of coronavirus concerns wasn’t going to leak.

Capt. Rich Jarrett, outgoing commander of Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, speaks during his change-of-command ceremony at the base theater, Friday, July 8, 2022.

Yokosuka commander ends pandemic-era tour at Navy’s largest overseas base

Capt. Rich Jarrett, who steered the Navy’s largest overseas installation through the coronavirus pandemic, relinquished command to Capt. Les Sobol.

Chaplains at Yokota Air Base, home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo, have implemented social distancing to help people worship during the coronavirus pandemic.

Spiritual adjustments: Chaplains get creative to care for overseas troops during pandemic

“We are doing things we have never done before and probably things we should have done years before with technology,” said 374th Airlift Wing Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Dale Marlowe. “I think it is going to change the way we do our ministry.”

A soldier is tested for COVID-19 at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Jan. 22, 2021.

USFK’s COVID-19 cases nearly triple as omicron subvariant arrives in South Korea

New COVID-19 cases among U.S. military personnel stationed in South Korea have nearly tripled as infections in the country have soared to levels not seen since May.