Every base camp perimeter was a front line in the Vietnam War. Is that true in today's Middle Eastern conflicts?

I have a sneaking suspension that in today's wars every person is a front line!

Sp4 Byron Skinner. CPT. Durish your assumption is correct. Troops went to the field for a week or two at a time, some worked out of fire bases which were always in Indian territory, or if you were in a Armored Cav. as a dismount you could also find yourself in a Lagger at night. It was best just to plan on getting a few mortar rounds lobbed at you at night or in a night ambush patrol, we never set up in the position we were ordered to. The orders came down from Squadron that had Vietnamese around and we had enough assigned ambush spots hit that we caught on, again disobeying orders. Most night ambush patrols were lead by an Sp4. NCO's who were also track commanders were to valuable to send out on these missions and don't even think about having an officer. One of the first 11th. Cav KIA's was an intelligence officer that went out on a night ambush patrol that got hit. The most "its sucks" thing an officer can do is not pull an ambush one its been hit, that bites. Thankfully as I have heard they don't do this any more, there is other ways of finding out where the enemy was moving around at night.

It depends on a lot of factors, like where the FOB was located, what kind of relationship you had with the locals, what kind of defense measures were in place, and what time period in OIF/OEF you are talking about. But yes, FOB in today's world are potentially as dangerous as any during Vietnam.

Just from my experience I would say no. Yes there are the FOBs that are more isolated, smaller and receive more direct and indirect Fire. It would depend on where you was deployed.

I was deployed 9 times to KAF. Only on my last couple deployments would my unit even carry our weapons around when traveling around the FOB. We would receive mortar fire on a regular basis, but nothing to even worry us. Once again, I know not everyone was this lucky though.

Similar, but different. The green zone was more highly fortified, yet still porous due to the abilities of the insurgents to penetrate and exploit the false sense of security those high concrete walls implied. Outside the green zone, we moved in vehicles that were soft targets for well placed IED's, and yes, every local national was suspect and had to be viewed as a threat no matter what, at all times!