FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Colonel James “Rob” Salome, Fort Campbell’s garrison commander, met with with Lee Erwin, a reporter with 5-Star Radio and Clarksville Now on May 25 to talk about the 101st Airborne Division’s upcoming 75th anniversary activities in August.

This is the first of several interviews of military leaders leading up to the division’s anniversary. Salome’s interview aired over the Memorial Day weekend on 5-Star Radio’s Community Corner.

Upcoming programs will feature military leaders from each of the 101st Abn. Div.’s six brigades and will air at 6 a.m. Sundays on Z97.5, Beaver 100.3, Rewind 94.3, Sunny 99.1, Q108, Outlaw 100.7 and ESPN 104.1 FM Clarksville.

Salome has been garrison commander for nearly two years, assuming command from Col. David “Buck” Dellinger on June 19, 2015. Salome served with the 101st Abn. Div. earlier in his career, years before he became garrison commander. “I know the first time I came here I was a major in the Army and I’d been in the Army for 10 years at that point,” Salome said “I was still intimidated to come to a place like this, to a unit that had such history and to wonder if I was going to measure up to the standards that a storied unit like this brings to bear. All of us wonder about that because first it is an elite unit and in any kind of elite unit you wonder if you can measure up.”

Since activating as an airborne unit on Aug. 16, 1942, at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, the 101st Abn. Div. has had, as Maj. Gen. William C. Lee said in his first address to the division, “a rendezvous with destiny.” The unit earned its elite status for its actions in World War II including during the invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.

During the Vietnam War the division proved itself again in the Battle of Hamburger Hill and in the A Shau Valley fighting against the North Vietnamese army at Fire Support Base Ripcord as well as in other battles throughout South Vietnam.

During the first Gulf War, it was the Screaming Eagles who fired the first shots of the war and the division air assaulted deep into enemy territory. Soldiers from the division have also served in Iraq and Afghanistan on numerous deployments for Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Then in 2016 the 101st Abn. Div. returned to Iraq acting as advisers and ensuring success in the fight against the Islamic State.

The division also has fought in many other battles, served as peacekeepers in Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean. The division liberated people from Nazi concentration camps, took part in integrating public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, and deployed to Liberia to ensure a successful resolution to the West African Ebola epidemic. An important part of the division’s mission is to provide “an unmatched expeditionary Air Assault capability” to combatant commanders.

While the 101st Abn. Div. did not form its association with Fort Campbell until 1956, the post has been home to the Screaming Eagles since then. Not only is Fort Campbell home to the 101st Abn. Div, but the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, 5th Special Forces Group, 52nd Ordnance Group (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and other tenant units call Fort Campbell home.

The garrison itself has proven that it is one of the best in the Army and works to contribute to the success of the 101st Abn. Div.

“One of the things that makes us most unique and something that we’re very proud of is that in 2016 we were selected by the president as the No. 1 Army installation in the world,” Salome said. “And this is not one of those competitions where everybody gets a trophy. We’re No. 1. There is no other No. 1 and we really are proud of that.”

Salome credits the great relationship between the installation and the surrounding communities for allowing Fort Campbell to reach its goal of being the best Soldier and Family experience.

“Whether you’re living in Clarksville or you’re living in Hopkinsville or anywhere else in Tennessee or Kentucky what we see consistently is that we really enjoy being around one another and we get unparalleled support,” Salome said. “We’re friends with one another … that’s what makes Fort Campbell special. It is because we’re all in this together, whether we’re actively serving, or we are supporting those who serve, or we’re just being great citizens together.”

The 101st Abn. Div. and Fort Campbell also act as an important “economic engine” for the region that has enabled Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee to grow, Salome said. This is just another way the division, the garrison and the surrounding communities are joined together with a common purpose.

Fort Campbell is not only a great place to live but it is a great place to train because of its facilities.

“Units come from across the country to do training at Fort Campbell because of the unique enablers that we have here,” Salome said. “[Fort Campbell has] 105,000 acres. We get a lot done in that kind of space … at one time on Fort Campbell we can train three brigade combat teams and a combat aviation brigade doing maneuvers throughout the entire area here within those 105,000 acres. And do it well.”

Fort Campbell also has Campbell Army Airfield, with the capability to handle radar approaches, makes even the air space above Fort Campbell a special asset units can leverage for training.

All of those things come together, to enable the 101st Abn. Div. to continually stay ready to defend the nation and go where duty calls.