Salerno

Portrait of Paktika Province

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan – Early in the late Michael Bhatia’s December 2007 report on Paktika Province — which I referred to in “Through Afghan Eyes” — he gives an overview of what previous studies have found about conditions in the province.
It’s a stark picture of what it’s like to live in one of [...]

Pitch Black

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan – This is by far the darkest FOB I’ve ever been on.
By 7 p.m., it’s pitch black out here, and to leave a lighted area like the dining facility results in a few seconds of total blindness.
Salerno does not accommodate you with any lights, presumably because they’d make the base [...]

Shamrock Red

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan – The loudspeaker sounded a few minutes after the Hot Gun began firing. “Attention on the FOB,” the voice intoned. “Shamrock Red.”
“Shamrock Red” indicates an incoming medevac, the staff of the base’s media operations center explained. It was unclear if the casualty or casualties had anything to do with the [...]

U.S. Forces Spread Thin

The Salerno army base offers a window into the hard counterinsurgency battle at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Dark Side of the Moon

BETWEEN BAGRAM AIR FIELD AND FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan – When I arrived at Bagram, a public-affairs officer named Chuck asked me what I thought of Afghanistan, notwithstanding the fact that all I had seen so far was Kabul. I told him that the place reminded me of the moon. Chuck laughed as he [...]