Canceled War Games. Video Meetings. The Military Guards Against Coronavirus.

“D.O.D. is taking steps within its senior leadership to lead by example on common sense preventative actions we can take to avoid the spread,” the Pentagon press secretary, Alyssa Farah, said in an email. “Other measures include eliminating handshakes, postponing international travel, limiting in-person meetings and instituting social distancing measures like rearranging seating when in person meetings are necessary or hosting meetings via teleconference.”

“Additional measures are under consideration and will likely be implemented soon,” she added.

In Naples, Italy, where a sailor became the first American service member to test positive for the virus in Europe this month, the Navy base is on lockdown. Base gyms are closed indefinitely, according to a Navy official, and commanders are coordinating with Italian officials daily. According to the official, leaders at the base were caught off guard by the Italians severely restricting movement in the country and it took roughly a day for the American military to institute new policies on the base.

On Okinawa, a Japanese island that is host to a sizable Marine base and acts as a hub for American forces transiting the Pacific Ocean, Marines are growing increasingly concerned that there will be an outbreak.

This month, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, about 200 Marines were not stringently screened when they returned from a training exercise in South Korea. The person described tests being conducted by what seemed to be untrained medical personnel with masks. One Navy doctor was present, the person said. The group also had to sign paperwork saying they had been properly screened.

Some officials on Okinawa are pressuring Marine leaders to close the base, at least for now, because many of the Japanese residents around its periphery are elderly.

One thing the Pentagon cannot control: rumors.

Known often as scuttlebutt, rumint (rumor intelligence), the lance corporal underground or the E-4 mafia, the chatter flows like a game of telephone from headquarters to the ranks, often serving as a nexus of information about possible troop deployments, extended weekends and palace intrigue.

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