J.P. Lawrence

J.P. Lawrence reports on the U.S. military in Afghanistan and the Middle East. He served in the U.S. Army from 2008 to 2017. He graduated from Columbia Journalism School and Bard College and is a first-generation immigrant from the Philippines.

@jplawrence3

lawrence.jp@stripes.com

Don't be fooled by the name of Miami Food. Located next to the K in Lautern mall in Kaiserslautern, Germany, the restaurant offers authentic Afghan food.

Kabul comes alive at unusually named K-Town eatery offering authentic tastes of Afghanistan

Don’t be fooled by the name — Miami Food is an Afghan restaurant in Kaiserslautern, Germany, offering dishes such as kabuli pulao, bolani and chapli kabab.

A MARTAC T-38 Devil Ray unmanned surface vehicle operates in the Arabian Gulf, Oct. 26, 2023. According to a military official, the U.S. Navy has changed the focus of its Middle East drone boat effort after not reaching its goal of assembling a fleet of 100 unmanned surface vessels.

US Navy’s aims for Middle East drone fleet altered after big miss on target number

The dry cargo ship USNS Alan Shepard and the destroyer USS Gravely conduct a replenishment at sea in the Persian Gulf on Dec. 8, 2023. The Navy blamed the grounding of the Alan Shepard in Bahrain on July 15, 2023, on the absence of the ship’s master from the bridge at a key moment.

USNS Alan Shepard ran aground in Bahrain after captain left bridge to eat, investigation finds

A screenshot of an ISIS-Khorasan video shows two fighters in September 2020. The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan is growing its numbers through recruitment amid economic instability in Afghanistan, a Pentagon watchdog agency report said May 2, 2024.

Islamic State group said to be recruiting greater numbers in Afghanistan

Kojo Owusu Dartey, an Army major assigned to Fort Liberty, N.C., was found guilty by a federal jury for smuggling guns in rice barrels to Ghana.

‘Rogue Army major’ convicted of smuggling guns to Ghana, lying about marriage fraud ring

A U.S. Army officer assigned to Fort Liberty was convicted of five charges related to trafficking firearms overseas, according to the Justice Department.

The FBI’s investigation identified a photo from Gregory Yetman's Instagram page, showing him wearing a hat consistent with a hat he had worn on Jan. 6, 2021. Yetman pleaded guilty April 25, 2024, in federal court to a felony offense of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with physical contact during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Army Guard MP who sprayed police with pepper spray during Jan. 6 riots pleads guilty

Gregory Yetman, an enlisted military police officer with the Army National Guard in 2021, came to the attention of authorities after he posted on Facebook about being at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots, court documents said.

David Christopher Noble, a former Air Force officer from Oregon, was sentenced April 24, 2024, to four years in federal prison for crowdfunding overseas videos of monkeys being tortured and killed.

Air Force veteran sentenced to prison time for funding monkey torture videos

A former Air Force officer who pleaded guilty to animal crushing charges after crowdfunding graphic videos of monkeys being tortured and killed was sentenced this week, the Justice Department said.

The U.S. government unsealed an indictment against four Iranian men, Hossein Harooni, Reza Kazemifar, Alireza Shafie Nasab and Komeil Baradaran Salmani, clockwise from top left, accused of cyberattacks against American companies, including defense contractors.

US says Iranian group used ‘spearphishing’ tactics to hack defense contractors

The indictment charges four hackers said to be part of a multiyear cyberwar campaign by Iran’s military against more than a dozen U.S. companies, as well as the State and Treasury departments.

Review: ‘The Achilles Trap’ examines Saddam and America’s toxic relationship

Tibet Ergul, left, and Chance Brannon, an active-duty Marine then stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., are seen on still images from surveillance footage, as identified in court documents provided by the Justice Department. Both have been convicted on charges related to domestic terrorism.

Marine who planned domestic terrorism attacks sentenced to 9 years in prison

Chance Brannon, 24, was motivated by neo-Nazi ideology when he threw a Molotov cocktail at a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022, according to documents filed in federal court for the Central District of California.

A judge sentenced two veterans Friday for being part of a conspiracy to bilk Tricare, the militarys health care program, out of more than $65 million. Joshua Morgan and former Kyle Adams were sentenced to 21 months and 15 months in prison, respectively.

Veterans who recruited troops for $65 million insurance fraud scheme sentenced to prison

Two veterans convicted for their roles in bilking more than $65 million from U.S. military health insurer Tricare have been sentenced and ordered to pay back millions of dollars, the Justice Department said Friday.

U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles assigned to the 494th Fighter Squadron sit on the flight line at RAF Lakenheath, England, in October 2023. Federal government website solicitations indicate that the U.S. may be moving some of its nuclear weapons to the base.

White House says US troops helped repel Iranian attack on Israel from air, sea and land

U.S. Air Force, Navy and Army assets participated in the operation to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones, which one official called a “spectacular success,” with no American casualties.

Brig. Gen. Richard Harrison, commanding general of 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, observes Patriot launchers Nov. 19, 2023, at an undisclosed location in the Middle East.

Soldiers recall split-second Patriot defense of US positions attacked by militants in Iraq

The Jan. 20 attack by an Iranian-backed militia left four American troops and one Iraqi soldier injured, U.S. Central Command said.

A cache of AK-47s lays on the deck of a ship in an undated file photo shared by U.S. Central Command. The U.S. government transferred the weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces after seizing them from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which intended them to arm the Houthis in Yemen.

Seized weapons meant for Houthis transferred by US to Ukraine

More than 5,000 weapons and half a million rounds of ammunition once bound for Houthi militants in Yemen has been transferred to Ukraine’s armed forces, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.

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