First time I saw a reference to Camp Rhino, I thought it had something to do with Janet...

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/004/world/U_S_military_shuts_down_Camp_R:.shtml

U.S. military shuts down Camp Rhino, army's 101st Airborne to take over Kandahar

By Kathy Gannon, Associated Press, 1/4/2002 08:03

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) The U.S. military closed its ''Camp Rhino'' desert base in southern Afghanistan and is transferring control of Kandahar airport from the Marines to the Army's 101st Airborne, officials said Friday.

Capt. Stewart Upton told reporters the 101st Airborne's advance guard had arrived at the airport, and the Marines' 26th Marines Expeditionary Unit would be packing up and returning to bases aboard U.S. Navy ships in the Arabian Sea. No schedule was given.

Also, another 25 prisoners, mostly Afghans, arrived at the Kandahar airport for eventual transfer to prisons outside Afghanistan. So far, Upton said, some 250 suspects are being held at the prison, which he said is being prepared for up to 400.

The airport is intended as a transit point. Upton said there has been no formal announcement about the prisoners' eventual destination.

Camp Rhino is some 35 miles south of Kandahar at an airstrip built by a wealthy Arab sheik who used it for hunting trips.

Upton said the camp has become redundant now that the military is entrenched at the airport. The Marines have finished their job securing the location for the army to take over, he said.

Though security has been constant, Upton said soldiers are on varying levels of alert depending on the threat. If the base learns of a possible Taliban or al-Qaida presence, the security alert is raised to the maximum.

Reports have surfaced that the Marines are assisting the local Afghan militia in hunting down the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, as well as bin Laden. Upton declined to comment on specific operations. He said, however, that there were U.S. forces in other provinces operating under separate instructions.

Omar is believed to be in neighboring Helmand province in Baghran, in the first of a series of mountain ranges that stretch north to Bamiyan province in central Afghanistan and some to the northern border with Turkmenistan.

At the Kandahar airport, built by the United States in the early 1970s, American military personnel have tried to make themselves comfortable and make their environment a little more like home.

Anne Smerekanicz, a soldier from Bridgewater, Conn., was putting up rolls of messages collected by people in the United States. She said 2,770 feet of messages were delivered to soldiers at the base.

The messages had been collected over the course of several months. ''Happy Halloween,'' said one. And another: ''Stay safe and stay out of trouble.''

Most expressed an even more basic sentiment: ''Thank you.'' They wished the forces well and prayed for their safety and quick return home.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2002