It’s relevant, so…what’s it like to be deployed in the Air Force?
(a lot of vets just snort-laughed)
We have a reputation for being the coddled service and it’s somewhat deserved. Certainly, the other services generally don’t have the amenities we do.
Nevertheless, deployment is not the Ritz. Trust me, I’m a bit of a hotel connoisseur.
Most of my time was at Al Dhafra Air Base (Bases overseas are always an “Air Base”, not an “Air Force Base”), with a 6 month stint at Al Udeid AB in the CAOC. These bases are not on the front lines; they are in the rear as support bases. Many Air Bases were on the front lines, though, in Iraq, Afghanistan & elsewhere. So, keep in mind I’m describing kind of the highest tier in terms of luxury; it only goes downhill from here.
To begin, food. The chow hall (DFAC is the proper term) cooked 4 meals a day. There were usually a couple options for mains & sides. A salad bar was there & a variety of drinks, plus frozen treats like ice cream bars. Honestly, they did pretty well, w/ a regular supply line from the local economy. We’re in the rear, after all.
Often, my crew couldn’t have those hot meals, though. Our alert & duty periods were packed & rest was minimal; it didn’t line up to when the hot food was available. So, we got some leftovers in a kind of “grab & go” setup, though we’d cook chicken nuggets & make our own pizzas out of pita bread, cheese & pasta sauce on the jet during a mission.
Midnight chow was often our savior in this regard; the options were very limited, but it was hot fresh food.
Lodging was a stack of metal buildings w/ plumbing, called “Wet Stacks”. Each crew got one room, shared by 4. No windows, dirty carpet. The shower leaked & was moldy; if lucky you were in an upstairs room not getting leaked on. The first thing a crew does when moving in is clean the air conditioner unit on the wall. You will see horrors in this unit that you cannot unsee…the amount of mold in these rooms was epic.
I still do not understand what the pinkish slime that grows in those showers was. Some exotic bacteria, I presume. I was wary of that stuff. You never walk around barefoot in the room.
We had 4 bunk beds, giving you a place to put your stuff (top bunk). Bare metal, they squeaked & rattled everytime you twitched, all night long….for all 4 crew. You could hear if someone was having a rough night. The mattress was the cheapest the military could buy, probably 15 years old at least & by now was in the shape of a canoe. Most of us brought foam pads to put on top & our own sheets – military linens were not great, very scratchy.
Dust was always everywhere, as you might expect.
You string “550 cord” (parachute cords) up in an elaborate system, allowing you to hang sheets in such a way that your bunk is kind of private.
Many crews preferred to stay in the tents (you sometimes had the option). They offered a little more space, but no plumbing, and for whatever reason, less mold.
WiFi came around 2014 or so. Huge improvement. Previously, one computer was in a hallway, hardwired to the internet. I’d go check email around 03:00.
We had a pool. Not big, a little bigger than a backyard pool (Al Udeid had a bigger pool). For people on their first deployment, they couldn’t use it until the scab from their smallpox vaccination fell off, which takes a few weeks…and probably falls off in your shower or maybe on the carpet at some point.
We had a shipping container “Green Beans Coffee”, a Pizza Hut, and there was a bar that served you 2 drinks a day. It was all metal boxes, everywhere.
The sewage often backed up & you could smell it when the wind blew the right way.
Anyway, I’m almost out of space, so that’s my description of “The Ritz” of deployed bases. I’ve done my best to not exaggerate.
Now – we didn’t “love” being deployed, but we didn’t really expect much more. We knew others had little of what we did & it could be much, much worse.
I hope this helps add context.
