For all the former servicepeople out there: which of your postings (whether foreign or domestic) did you like the most? And which didn’t you like at all? Are there any postings in the military world that are most requested or least desired?
I’ve never served but tons of family have. Talk at the barbecues has most everyone liking Germany most, Korea least for the Army guys. The Navy folks say Hawaii is the dream posting but no one in the family has ever gotten one. One person loved Japan and hated the Phillipines, another was vice versa; we’ve got two kids just starting Navy careers, so maybe the’yll break the tie. The only person in USAF only went to the UK, but liked it a lot.
I’d have to say it’s a tie on both counts.
Best: I went to high school in San Antonio, TX, and that’s where I enlisted and went to MEPS. When I came back from basic, I was sent to Fort Sam to do my AIT. My battle buddy and I snuck away from the drill sergeants and out of the airport after BCT and hooked up with my friends (gotta love those phonecards). They brought my truck and we partied all weekend. I was the only one in AIT with a POV, and we had all sorts of off-base adventures while everybody else was stuck doing CQ and KP and what not. Feedback came back to me that the best times were sneaking a few buddies off to mom’s house for a few hours for home cooked meals. They all loved it, and mom loved having more young soldiers to feed. Yeah, I became everybody’s best friend real fast.
The other best station was my first real duty station after AIT. Contrary to popular belief, the recruiter actually held up to his promise. I was an army brat to begin with. I told him when I signed up that I wanted to see the city where I was born and I wouldn’t sign up without a guarantee that I would go to Germany. They sent me to the 98th General Hospital in Nurnburg, Germany (close enough to Munich). I saw the city of my birth, backpacked through Europe with a Eurail pass, saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, went to Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid and much more. I had many amazing adventures. I met a great friend with whom I am still buds with to this day and have lots of good pictures and memories. They make some great bar stories about some of the shit we got into over there.
Worst: BCT, Fort Jackson, SC in July - August. The training itself wasn’t all that tough, but it was hot as crap. Heat + humidity + major bugs = major suck. My platoon named it “the Summer of Hell”. But we were all just kids. Then there was Fort Sill, OK. Not only is it the quite possibly the flattest state in the nation, but in one week we saw a half day of snow and then later in the week we hit 112 degrees on a flat plain with absolutely no breeze in MOPP4. Ugh. I was so glad to see that place in my rear view that I almost didn’t look back. (But I did, if nothing else, to flip the whole place off as I yelled “Eat my dust!”)
Oh, yeah. And then there was my first trip to the Sandbox. “Embrace the Suck” and all that. But I know most folks don’t like to talk about that. That’s when I lost my second soldier under my watch. That’s when shit got too real to deal with feelings. Just do your job and we’ll all get back to the world. Someday. I’m better with it now, but I’ll never forget Martin and Randy.
Best: Germany
Worst: Iraq
Due to recent events maybe I’ll be able to give Iraq another chance to move up on the list.
Worse: Gaza. Because it’s fucking Gaza.
I only had two real postings – Groton, CT, and Portsmouth, NH. But as part of the crew of a submarine, we conducted overseas operations and at times stopped in various ports in the Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf.
Groton kind of sucks. Portsmouth was pretty cool. Of the places in the Med we visited, we spend the most time in the Italian island of La Maddelena (near Sardinia) and the Greek island of Crete. Both places were cool. In the Persian Gulf, we spent a month in Bahrain after a collision. That was weird, but interesting in its own way. I would not want to live there.
Personal factors make a big difference but in the Army, for stateside posts, Fort Polk, LA is often cited as one of the lowest choices. Of course, I knew one guy who really liked to fish and he loved Fort Polk.
I discount basic training posts because it is hard to separate what you are doing from the actual facility. Of ones I actually served at, I disliked Ft. Bliss, TX the most. Ft. Carson, CO was probably my favorite.
I was stationed in Hawaii for a few years, but on the north side of the island opposite Pearl Harbor.
No doubt, it’s a unique duty station…I had no idea there was even a Marine base there until I got sent. I thought they were fucking with us when they said that 3/4 of our SOI class was headed there.
Anyway, there are definitely two sides of the coin. The good…well, it’s Hawaii. You ever, ever get tired of just looking. The bad…you get tired of going to touristy areas, and you’re not welcome in the local areas. Forgot ‘Aloha Spirit’, the locals in general are not friendly unless you’re paying them for something; doubly so if you’re military. And this might sound crazy, but probably the worst thing is that you’re on a little island in the middle of the Pacific. You *can’t * just get away. Drive 3 hours, you’re back where you started…and there are always people.
As far as worst postings, from what I gather from a lot of the AF folks I talk to, Whiteman AFB (In lovely Knob Noster, MO) is not a favorite.
Language school in Monterey, California was pretty cush aside from the stress.
Worst: I was stationed at Cannon AFB New Mexico for 4 years 2 months and 3 days in the 1970’s. The most beautiful site in the world is Clovis, NM in your rear view mirror for the last time.
In the military there are 3 types of assignments:
A good job at a bad place.
A bad job at a good place.
And a bad job at a bad place.
Actually I lied a little as I had a great job at what I considered a great base: I ran the Field Training Detachment (FTD) at RAF Upper Heyford, England. It was so great that I stayed an extra 1.5 years.
The first two times I was sent to Seoul were both great assignments. The third time I went there, in just under nine years, I was done.
I actually wound up in the same barracks room in 1996 that I had in 1987. That was a little depressing.
Tokyo - Amazing
Sicily - One of the best years of my life.
I really think it’s up to the individual, whether an assignment is good or not. If you just sit in the day room and bitch, even a place like Sicily will suck.
Never actually been in the military myself, but my entire childhood was spent on or around bases and I work on them now, so I’ll let myself post…
Internationally the best I’ve experienced is any place in Germany. The irony is that most first-timers in Germany do nothing but whine and moan about it; mysteriously, however, when you’re back in the States and ask people about where they’ve been Germany is always everyone’s top place - only belatedly do most people realize how awesome it is.
Sadly the US has closed almost all the bases in the best German cities. When I was a kid we used to have bases in Munich, Berlin, Nurnberg, Wuerzburg, Heidelberg, and on and on. At one point we lived on a base that was a ten-minute walk from a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now all that is gone, and most of the few bases that are left are in remote areas. Probably Wiesbaden is the only base left in a nice city, especially once Bamberg closes in a few months. Still, Germany is Germany, and you’re never far from some awesome site.
Vicenza, Italy also gets very high marks. Further south I’ve heard very mixed things about Naples, though people do seem to love Sigonella in Sicily.
Korea seems to get mixed reviews, but just about everyone seems to love Japan. Sounds kind of like the situation with Germany, though - first-timers claim to hate it at first, then grow to absolutely love it just as they’re getting ready to leave.
Worst international base I’ve been on was in Bahrain. The place is a hot, ugly, miserable pit. Many sailors claim to like it because the off-base housing can get very fancy and many people can afford maids and cooks, but that aspect just felt uncomfortable and exploitative to me.
Domestically the legendarily worst base for the Army is Ft. Polk. It’s infamous. Ft. Carson in Colorado is one of the most popular - they say everyone who goes there tries to figure out a way to stay.
Ft. Jackson, South Carolina is pretty meh.
I hear nice things about Ft. Sam Houston in Texas.
For the Air Force apparently the worst base is the one in Minot, North Dakota - I’m blanking on the base’s name though.
Worst: A tie between NAS Lemoore, CA and MCAS Beaufort, SC
There should be a great, gaping void in the center of the US due to the biblical-levels of suckitude coming from those ‘places’. I am aware of Oklahoma
Best: NAS Memphis, TN
Before it became the crime-ridden pit it is now. Memphis was a great place. Beale street alone was worth going. Sights and sounds and food everywhere. And girls, never forget the ladies.
I’m not going to include Iraq because, it’s obviously a suckhole.
Worst: Qatar. Seriously, fuck that place. Not only was it hot, it was humid as hell. It’s one or the other. Both isn’t fair.
Mosul had the best food.
Worst: Newport News Shipbuilding
Wasted two years in the Navy installing vinyl tile on board the USS Enterprise while it was in dry dock for overhaul in the early 1990s.
Best: Anywhere I went after I transferred to the Seabees. The job was great no matter where we were.
Best: Washington DC
Worst: Vietnam
Best: Ramstein AS, Germany. Even though there were occasional anti-American shop owners who refused to serve us, but there was so much to do there and a great community.
Worst: Montgomery, AL, just because, Montgomery. Need I mention the mansion five miles from base that proudly announced it was a KKK headquarters?
What color is the boathouse at Heyford? 
Of course everyone is different, I was at Bliss four years and loved it. Good people in the unit though which makes a difference.