Combat Outpost Keating, Military outpost in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan.
Combat Outpost Keating was a military installation in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, positioned at the floor of a narrow valley. Steep mountain slopes enclosed the site on all sides and rose more than three thousand feet (900 m) above it.
The installation began as a Provincial Reconstruction Team site in 2006 and took its name after Lieutenant Benjamin Keating died in November that year. The post was abandoned in 2009 following a large-scale attack and later fully evacuated.
The base's name honours Lieutenant Benjamin Keating, executive officer of ABLE Troop 3-71 Cavalry, 10th Mountain Division, killed on 26 November 2006 when his vehicle overturned at Kamdesh; the camp was renamed in December 2006. Its story reached wide audiences through Jake Tapper's book The Outpost, the films The Outpost and Red Platoon, and two 2018 Netflix Medal of Honor episodes on Clinton Romesha and Ty Carter.
The location made resupply difficult, as transport routes passed through steep terrain and helicopters provided the only reliable link to the outside. Today the outpost no longer exists and the area remains off-limits to visitors.
The outpost was named Camp Keating in December 2006 for Benjamin Keating, executive officer of ABLE Troop 3-71 Cavalry, 10th Mountain Division, who died on 26 November 2006 when his vehicle overturned at Kamdesh. Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha later compared the site to fighting from the bottom of a paper cup.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,285 contributors worldwide.