This is a fun YT channel. Ret SEAL on the crappiest place he ever deployed to:
NO one likes Nigeria lol.
So I know a handful of people who do various work in places in Africa, I have never heard about a fantastic place to go visit in Africa.
I know a couple real old timers who did Safari’s back in the 70s and they said it was the best hunting of their life, but still not sure they had anything great to say about Africa itself. The food they ate was what they brought with them and what they shot that day. They slept in tents and trucks, they crapped outside. I think it was just the experience of living off the land and hunting big shit that can kill you that was the attraction.
I think Haiti would probably be the second worst area to work based upon what people who have been here and there have told me.
I think the best “conflict” deployment I ever heard of was Thailand. I didn’t even know we had a recent conflict in Thailand but I know some guys who got sent there to handle whatever the hell was going on. They absolutely loved it.
My sister n law’s.
My brother was there during a revolution, he was working with a Team. My brother said they had a murder an hour for 24 straight hours.
Not like a murder we have, these were machete attacks, brutal, bloody and effective.
Sounds about like everything I’ve heard.
East Africa isn’t so bad. Kenya, Tanzania are alright. Some of the SF and MARSOC guys like Angola, I haven’t been there. But draw a curved line from Somalia, up to Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali. Horrible.
Haiti is awful. Thailand is one of the best places on earth.
Haiti, by like a lot. Africa, at least Djibouti and Tanzania were miles and miles better in every possible way. I’m sure there are areas of the Dark Continent that would rival Haiti, but by God’s grace, I never had the misfortune to deploy there.
I live in a world of shit.
A smelly HY80 nuclear shit tube >400 feet under water. Ya’ll had sunshine at least.
How long? What were you doing down there? My uncle was a Lt sub commander in WWII, did two tours getting chased around by the Japanese. I was in a similar sub for about 20 mins and I could not believe how they survived in that thing, it was the most miserable place I have been, and that was without the added stress of knowing there were ships above me trying to kill all of us. I’m not claustrophobic but how anyone could volunteer for the sub service at that time is a mystery to me.
He cut off two fingers while drunk on a table saw and went to bed. Didn’t even notice until the next day. Lost a lot of blood, but didn’t die. Dude was a hard man. He did join AA after that however as even he decided that was a pretty good sign his drinking was out of his control.
The length of deployments varied, we were usually always at sea. If not deployed, training for deployment. Depending on the operating area deployments lasted anywhere from 2-8 months.
Med runs were hot and North Atlantic missions were cold and long. I was in an E-lint role, 12 on 12 off, as there were only two of us on the boat. Other than PM’s we only “worked” when at periscope depth, so it got pretty boring at times.
Everyone made fun of the part time Boomer sailors who had a fixed schedule and were at sea far less than we were. The average civillian doesn’t realize the sacrifices people make for this banana republic. Being away for such extended periods, without communication, is harder on the families than people can even imagine.
When pier-side, we were back on the boat every 3 days for 24 hours, in addition to the normal work week. Mostly to baby sit the reactor, its support systems and other systems that can kill you or sink it. We were usually short of qualified personnel so every 3 days was normal, it was an absolute luxury to have 4 sections of duty personnel.
ETA: We did some really interesting operations and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything looking back. Under water deploying Seals and Marines into the ocean was one of them, except that having them onboard used up all the beds. I was sleeping in the Torpedo room, next to a MK48 and not too far from a tactical that I can neither confirm or deny we were carrying.
Another vote for Africa as the worse place to spend time. Isolated 'Muricans who bitch about the US really need to spend more time out of the US. Everyone should spend at least 6 months out of the US at lease once in their life:
Former CIA Operative Reveals The Worst Place He Ever Traveled Too
Gotta agree. Africa is chock full of places I’d rather not see. Much is made of the “Gold Coast of the Dark Continent” here in the states, but in reality they have nearly as many lethal creepies, plus all those great hemorrhagic fevers featured in movies like Outbreak. Pardon me, but no, I’m not comfortable around bugs that can make you die by bleeding out of your asshole, not to mention your nose, ears, tear ducts, and delicate skin structures like nipples and genitalia. Ebola is the surface, and I hope we never import any of that shit in mass quantities over here. Back in 2015, the CDC claimed they were weeks to months from having a vaccine (Heard that story somewhere? ;)) that would relegate EVD to the likes of minor dysentery. Did you ever hear any more about that one? I haven’t either.
Plus, Tarzan nailed it: “I don’t want to go back there because it’s hot”.
Back in the day, I thought that every attack sub carried a Silver Bullet. :dirol:
Re: vaccine, there’s a lot on this. It’s more than ‘just’ that
But yes, almost everything in Africa wants to kill you.
At least one, along with a namesake or several mayhaps. I was more concerned with the Tritium in the Torp room than I was walking quickly through the RC looking down through the floor.
Northeast Africa sucks. The base on Djibouti is ok for what it is, and it is small.
Only thing I ever worry about are the two legged varmints. They are always the most dangerous.
I deployed to lots of North Africa and the levant. I deployed a few times to Haiti.
I’d rather not go back to either Haiti or sub-Sahara Black Africa.