My Year in Afganistan: Forward Operating Base Salerno

My year in Afghanistan was life-changing, even though I didn't know it at the time.  In fact, I really hated being there.  It's funny how that is.  Often, it's the things we hate that are what's best for us.  Sometimes it can save your life.  That only happens if it doesn't kill you first.

In Afghanistan, I managed a government contract to ensure vehicle accountability across the country.  I had people managing equipment at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salarno. It was a base near the Pakistan border. I made it a point to visit all my folks spread across the country at their different FOBs. I fly to Salerno on a C-130 through the Air Force's Hub and Spoke system. So I get there, take a look at the vehicle yard to see the vehicles that they were managing. We talk about life at the FOB with the folks in their data entry center, which is nothing more than a quickly built plywood building built on cement blocks. We laugh at the latest company gossip and go eat in the concrete dining facility (DFAC) about 300 yards from their building. The food, like all the food at the DFACs, was good. I ate there 3 times. I fly back to Bagram the next day on a spoke hub flight.

About a week later, I got a flash message saying that a suicide bomber had driven a 5-ton truck bomb into Salerno. It exploded next to the dining facility in the middle of the camp. I initially tried to call the FOB, but the phone lines were dead. Then I called the corporate office in Alexandria, Virginia, to let them know. I was told to keep them informed of our personnel at the FOB. It took a while for that to happen. At the FOB after the explosion, the base was attacked by a group of Taliban fighters. It took a while for the base's security to fight off the attack. This also cut off communications with the FOB. It wasn't until late in the evening that phone calls would go through.

I finally got my team leader on the phone, who gave me a rundown on what had happened. The most important thing was that all my guys, although shaken up, were alright; no one was physically hurt. The Truck bomb explosion had destroyed the dining facility, killing some people inside. This included contractors on other contracts. The data entry center building was blown off its foundation, but no one inside was hurt. One contractor who was walking to the dining facility at the time caught a piece of shrapnel in the neck and bled out during the firefight that regained security. It was just another day in Afghanistan. Life and death continue in Afghanistan.

People and their different cultures amaze me. At Bagram in Afghanistan, we have contractors from all over the world. I call it the micro-society of Bagram Airfield, we have Americans, English, Africans, Indians, Uzbek's, Russians, and of course Afghans. The Afghans are more amazed by everything they see. We have truck drivers who wait in a shelter next to where I work who are amazed by a package of cheese and crackers. Sometimes we start an impromptu soccer game, which they immediately recognize. In the DFAC, sometimes I get there right before closing when the DFAC workers start to eat; what I'm amazed with is that the Indians and Afghans can't get enough sour cream, they eat it with everything, on bread, in rice, by itself like pudding. This is a cultural thing learned young by eating cream separated from the milk of the cow or goat.

Elk Mountain Hotel

After driving through Idaho and Utah, we found a Harvest Host RV location in the middle of Wyoming. This stop was a great, unexpected stop on our trip home. About 5 miles off Interstate 80 in the small crossroads town of Elk Mountain.

The Elk Mountain Hotel is one of those places that bleed pioneer history. Originally a stagecoach stop on the Overland Trail in 1862. When the Stage stop fell into disrepair and was destroyed by fire, the hotel replaced it in 1905. Stagecoach travel was replaced in 1868 with the coming of the Union Pacific Railroad. A music pavilion was built next to the hotel in 1920, bringing famous musical acts to Wyoming. Big bands such as Tommy Dorsey and Louis Armstrong were regular stops in Elk Mountain, drawing crowds from the surrounding area.

After a long drive, it was a fun dinner stop. The restaurant on the bottom floor served the best steak of the trip. Now off to Seward, Nebraska. We are close to the halfway mark of our journey home from California and the Oregon Coast.