This one’s for all the veterans to chime in. Excluding combat, what was your worst duty station and why? Weather, superiors, MOS etc.
I’m not a veteran so I sit this one out.

Keflavik, Iceland. Everything else was a country club by comparison.

Unaccompanied. Weather so constantly shitty that on the rare day the Sun shined, anyone not critical to the mission was given the afternoon off. No wheels. No place to go if I HAD wheels. HUGE dick for an XO.

Didn't have any awful assignments, even Guantanamo Bay back when was tolerable (except for around sunset when the "teeth" which were like sandfleas or something and land crabs would attack you) on active duty. Worst two-week (or slightly longer) Reserve duty stint; 29 Palms, CA. It wasn't the weather in mid-July, the chow, living quarters, boredom...Superiors, and will stop at that.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rat2306,

Erlangen West Germany was the worst. (I did 2 combat tours in Vietnam and 13 months in South Korea for comparison)

2nd Worst: Fort Hood Texas. Bring a under 21 year old soldier home from Vietnam and put him in a DRY COUNTY. Bastards.

Darmstadt, GE, my first duty station with...women

Iwakuni, Japan

It’s where fun goes to die.

With a year in Vietnam and several 6 month deployments to Okinawa, none of these were worse than the annual training deployments to Ft Irwin, CA. Every deployment was during the rainy season. I really never understood why a Marine helicopter squadron had to go to an Army base to train when we had 29 Palms.

Griffiss AFB NY, long, dismal winters and the lowest base morale I ever experienced in 21 years of service.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Darmstadt, GE, my first duty station with...women

First base with women and that was bad? Can I ask for clarification?

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Darmstadt, GE, my first duty station with...women

First base with women and that was bad? Can I ask for clarification?

In our company, working with them


There were very few good women soldiers, they weren't made to do anything, NCO's scared of them for good reason. A sexual harassment charge would more than likely end their career even without a conviction

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Iwakuni, Japan

It’s where fun goes to die.

That may be so, but you had a huge Exchange and Commissary. Long after my active duty in the Army, I was an Army civilian at the Akizuki Ammo Depot in Kure, on the other side of Hiroshima. Despite the tiny PX/commissary, it was a great assignment. Mrs. Sigmund and our toddler daughter came with me; it was a great experience. In my late 30s I had a different view of the world than I did as a teen-age GI.

Not me, but my wife's father retired as a Lt. Colonel from the USAF. He told me he was stationed at Thule AFB for 1 year. Said it was miserable...His family stayed in Florida while he was there for 365 days from late 1985 - late 1986.

My wife was 5 at the time and her brother was 1. They lived in Melbourne, FL, just outside of Cape Canaveral. Apparently her mom came up with the story that their dad was in training to be an Astronaut...that's why he was away...obviously false. Well, she told them he was on the Challenger Space Shuttle and they were going to watch the launch... in person, although several miles away. It was the Challenger launch that exploded. Needless to say she thought her dad died. Her mom says it took them about 24 hours to get her dad on the phone to tell her he was all right and still alive!

I've never been in the military, so I asked him about his deployment. I asked if he had a choice to go or not. He said absolutely he had a choice. Retire from the USAF as a Captain, or go to Thule for 1 year and get promoted to a Major. He took the promotion.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

In our company, working with them


There were very few good women soldiers, they weren't made to do anything, NCO's scared of them for good reason. A sexual harassment charge would more than likely end their career even without a conviction

Ah, got it.

Mather afb was the worse.
Griffins was great from for me, but I grew up in NE Pa. so I was used to the weather.

K.I Sawyer. Ass freezing cold and I was out in it daily. But the U.P. was beautiful! Made enough of an impression on me that when I fully retired, I moved to Marquette.
And I dont have to stand outside in below zero cold anymore, so I got that going for me!

Sinop Turkey.

Dead volcano sticking out over the Black Sea.

Took the bus down the hill once to look at the GI swimming beach. Took the next bus back up the hill.

Most people there did not seem to like us (except for some employed on the Post).

MacGregor Range, NM. A satellite of Ft. Bliss, about a 75 mile drive into nowhere. To give you an idea of how bad it was, troops used to argue who got to drive the distro to White Sands Missile Range. We often detained illegal aliens squatting in empty barracks, or in meal line. Once a group of illegals were stealing boots the Japanese para troops were airing out overnight. The Mexicans were very surprised to be overwhelmed by Japanese soldiers.

Loring AFB, Maine. One of the "northern tier" Air Force Bases, closed in the early 1990s. Short summer and fall. Winters in the early 1970s were extreme. Annual snowfall 13 feet on average. Flightline temperatures dipped as low as 40 below; add windchill and temps were -80. Not surprising, morale was low and leadership up through the Wing Commander, pretty bad. On the plus side, summers very pleasant, lots of outdoor sports. and for the most part, very good people, including the locals. Facilities were also very good. Happy when I left what was an unforgettable experience for a young man!

FT Polk, LA

Dimly lit barracks with all the creature comforts of a prison cell. I honestly cannot recall the chow hall there, so it must have been so horrific I have banished it from my memory. First posting AFTER 4 years in northern Germany, meaning the humidity was an unwelcome surprise. No need for OPFOR during field problems as the local fauna was more than up to the task.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Erlangen West Germany was the worst. (I did 2 combat tours in Vietnam and 13 months in South Korea for comparison)

2nd Worst: Fort Hood Texas. Bring a under 21 year old soldier home from Vietnam and put him in a DRY COUNTY. Bastards.

Fort Hood I could maybe understand, although I liked it. But Ferris Barracks in Erlangen? Must have been the unit. Middle of Bavaria with some of the best Franconian beer and more breweries per capitia than anywhere on earth. Broke my heart when they tore down Monteith barracks in Furth.

Ft. McPherson tops my list as worst but I guess I was just lucky.