Not much to tell. I was in LA during the Rodney King riots back in 92. Spent three days holed up in my hotel room instead of going to Dodger games and a Van Halen concert. Nothing too near me, but I could watch troop deployments from my hotel window.
As for actually being in a disturbance, that would have to go back to the early 70s and getting tear-gassed outside Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino. 
Given the amount of time I was in the Army and the jobs I had it’s just luck of the draw that I only spent 1 year in Baghdad.
Oh, yeah. There was that. But I don’t think the fires and whatnot got any closer than two or three miles from my apartment.
Just a couple wars and civil disturbances:
Iraq 2007-2008
Afghanistan 2009-2010 and 2017-2018
Egypt 2011 (Arab Spring)
Greece 2011 (Austerity Riots)
Former Yugoslavia 1990-1995
Cumulative years in Iraq, starting in 2005.
Repeatedly. Found it pretty boring. Never got shot at, personally, but every few days you’d hear a mortar or rocket land somewhere nearby and shake the buildings. Never had one land close enough to be dangerous to me, although I know people who were killed.
I am sure must have been pissed off**** in Egypt and Greece. Talk about a busmans holiday!
Please tell me you muttered “I am on vacation” a few times.
This thread got me reminiscing, so I dug up some of my old posts from Iraq and Afghanistan, if the OP is still interested.
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=397264&highlight=iraq
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=391623&highlight=iraq
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=365124&highlight=iraq
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=269159&highlight=iraq
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=173313&highlight=iraq
Saigon airport, 1975, right before it fell.
Turkey-mid 1980’s-Had to evacuate the military hospital two times due to bomb threats. One of those times, it was a Turkish rental car parked outside of the ER entrance and there was a “ticking noise” coming from the trunk area! I was glad we had a battery powered incubator for the baby I had just delivered (as the doctor, not the mom). It was late at night and I had to check the baby and mom using my flashlight.
I grew up in Northern Ireland during the troubles, does that count?
Gulf War, Episode One, in direct support of the 2nd Marine Division, ground assault into Kuwait. I personally never shot at anyone, and to the best of my knowledge nobody personally shot at me. Some sniper rounds got kinda close, though.
I’m going to say ‘yes’ 
(so did I)
First Gulf War (Desert Shield/Storm), Navy, onboard an LST carrying appx 400 Marines & their equipment (AAV’s, Humvees, and a couple medium field Howitzers). We would’ve been the first ship to “land” during the amphibious assault that never happened (which was fine by me, although I would have been the bow ramp operator during that landing, and that would have been a helluva story to tell). Turns out we kept 100k Iraqis waiting for us to land, whilst the Army dudes snuck in through Saudi Arabia.
We were relatively close to the USS Tripoli when it hit a mine.
I was stationed in Turkey during Desert Shield/Desert Storm but I was about 1100 miles from the Iraq border so I wasn’t in any war zone. We were for the most part locked down on base and not able to leave; we did have a few instances of non-authorized personnel poking around and there was an Air Force finance officer who was shot through the cheek in Ankara – he ended up chasing down the perpetrator even after getting wounded. There was talk of us deploying throughout the build up and when the airstrikes started but the ground campaign was pretty fast so nothing came of it. I did get hazard pay and the Southwest Asia Service Medal for it, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
Second hand anecdote, for what it’s worth. During Gulf War II, I talked with a staff officer who had been on the planning staff for Gulf War I. According to him, the amphibious landing in Kuwait was initially planned as an actual landing rather than a feint, and an actual amphibious landing to seize the port was part of the operational plan until very late in the process, when someone pointed out all of those huge oil storage tanks by the port. The ones that would be hit by any sort of shore bombardment. And that the Marines would be landing right next to. While under fire. :smack:
Good to know !! I’d like to shake the hand of the person who pointed that out !:smack: