Rose Thayer

Rose L. Thayer is based in Austin, Texas, and she has been covering the western region of the continental U.S. for Stars and Stripes since 2018. Before that she was a reporter for Killeen Daily Herald and a freelance journalist for publications including The Alcalde, Texas Highways and the Austin American-Statesman. She is the spouse of an Army veteran and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. Her awards include a 2021 Society of Professional Journalists Washington Dateline Award and an Honorable Mention from the Military Reporters and Editors Association for her coverage of crime at Fort Hood.

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thayer.rose@stripes.com

A U.S. soldier from the Georgia National Guard conducts a visual inspection of a passing train traveling from Mexico to the U.S. to detect illegal crossings of the border in Uvalde, Texas on Feb. 12, 2025. U.S. Northern Command is working together with the Department of Homeland Security to augment U.S. Customs and Border Protection along the southern border with additional military forces. This initial deployment of more than 1,600 active-duty personnel brings the total military Title 10 forces along the border to approximately 4,000 personnel. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Sveen)

US and Mexico agree to military collaboration on patrols, communication for border security

The coordinated patrols will occur with each country’s troops remaining on their respective sides of the Rio Grande. The changes stemmed from a recently held meeting between Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command, and Mexico’s secretary of national defense.

National Guard troops rescued 296 people from flooding in one day

Fort Riley soldier charged in shooting death of civilian

Soldier’s wife convicted of murder in his shooting death at Fort Riley

Military commanders short on answers about costs, readiness for expanded mission at southern border

Senators at a Thursday hearing questioned whether using troops for border-related jobs drastically increases costs and cuts into the preparation for them to fight wars. Some senators said the use of military aircraft to deport migrants can cost about $30,000 an hour.

Fort Riley soldier sentenced to 3½ years in prison for driving drunk, killing off-duty police officer

Pvt. Gage Kaiser, 20, pleaded guilty to driving drunk and killing an off-duty police officer on a rural Kansas road last year.

Military backs out of recruiting at science and engineering conference as part of DEI purge

Military organizations have backed out of an engineering, science and technology conference set for this weekend as part of a new Pentagon policy that bans diversity-focused events.

Authorities this week arrested a couple on felony charges of aggravated child neglect that may have occurred at the Army’s Fort Campbell.

Former soldier sentenced to prison for sexual abuse of 15-year-old girl

Donald Lee Collins, 41, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing another soldier’s 15-year-old daughter. Upon release he will be required to register as a sex offender and serve 10 years of probation.

Fort Riley lifts lockdown after investigation of gunshot report finds no evidence of shooting, Army says

Fort Riley officials gave an all-clear Thursday afternoon following a lockdown at the Kansas Army base sparked by fears of an active shooter. Reports of a shooting were not verified.

Close-up view of a stone entrance sign for U.S. Army base Fort Leavenworth.

Army lieutenant colonel sentenced to 10 months in prison for beating wife

Lt. Col. Greg Pasquantonio, an Army aviation trainer assigned to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, will spend 10 months in prison after beating his former wife so severely that he broke eight of her ribs, requiring her to spend five days in the hospital, according to prosecutors.

Hegseth meets with troops sent to border with Mexico as 150 Marines deploy to Guantanamo

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shook hands Monday with troops at Fort Bliss for a deployment on the U.S. border with Mexico as Marines unloaded at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to begin work on migrant detention facilities.

Korean War soldier lost in the ‘Frozen Chosin’ laid to rest in San Antonio

Seventy-four years after her brother shipped off to boot camp, Holland said she had given up hope that her brother would ever come home. But the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in August identified her brother’s remains using DNA that Holland had provided and she was able to bring him to Texas for burial.

A U.S. Marine with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, adjusts concertina wire along the southern border wall near San Ysidro, Calif., Jan. 27, 2025. U.S. Northern Command is working together with the Department of Homeland Security with the emplacement of physical barriers to add additional security that will curtail illegal border crossings. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Caleb Goodwin)

Armed troops arrive in Texas, California to begin work at the southwest border

Marines began to hang temporary barriers along a wall in San Ysidro, Calif., marking the U.S. border with Mexico as an Air Force flight crew prepared to take off from Texas to Ecuador with the military’s fourth planeload of deported migrants.

The Buffalo Soldier Gate at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Former soldier sentenced to 8 years in prison for moving teenager into his barracks room

Carlos Humberto Richard Walsh, 23, of Washington brought the teenage girl to stay with him in his room in 2022 and had sex with her multiple times, according to court records. He was a specialist assigned to the base but is no longer in the Army.

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