‘Outposts’? Military bases are more like sophisticated cities

A reader of a recent Point of View letter seemed to think that our overseas military bases are “outposts.”

The last time I heard that word, it was probably in a movie — “Zulu,” maybe — in connection with Britain’s attempt to rule the waves, plus most of the land those waves touched.

Since fewer than 1 percent of Americans are currently serving in the military, and only 13 percent have ever served, the number of those who have been on a military base in the U.S., much less overseas, is probably not much larger. The truth is, in today’s connected, westernized world, there aren’t too many bases anywhere that fit that description.

I’m pretty sure my students at Naval Support Activity Bahrain did not think they were living on an outpost, not with McDonald’s and KFC a couple of blocks from the base, and the biggest mall they had ever seen a short (depending on traffic) ride from there.

Kandahar Airfield in 2010 and 2011 was the most connected place I have ever seen. There were planes taking off and landing 24/7. Everyone except me had a cellphone, or maybe two. For anyone who didn’t have a laptop, there were computer centers scattered around the base, including one in the Education Center. There was no McDonald’s, but there was a TGIFridays, a KFC and a Tim Horton’s doughnut shop for homesick Canadian troops.

Or perhaps the reader was referring to Forward Operating Bases. FOB Apache, in Zabul Province, definitely was remote — Alexander the Great built a castle there and chose to go no further. I flew in and out by helicopter, lucky enough to avoid the 24-hour trip by convoy. There were no fast-food places, but the food in the chow hall was pretty good and there were plenty of computers.

So the reader must have meant COPs — Combat Outposts. I was never on a COP — it was not a place for teachers — but from everything I have heard, they fit the definition: remote, no facilities, all the MREs you could eat. Like any military post in wartime, they could be dangerous.

Would I go back? Now that the war is, more or less, winding down, the Education Center at Kandahar is closed, and FOB Apache is gone. Bahrain NSA will probably be there as long as there is a Persian Gulf, but after carefully considering the reader’s letter, I believe my work is here.