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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 5,059
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2001
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I deployed to Bosnia, Iraq, and Spain while military and then worked a year in Kabul, So I guess so. According to several businesses, Alaska is overseas, as they will not ship here and then you ask why and they say they will not ship outside of the US. I can’t tell you how many companies have told Alaska is not in the US.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 12,906 Likes: 5
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 12,906 Likes: 5 |
Living on base in a foreign country makes it very difficult to have anything but a visitor's experience. Going to a foreign country, finding your own place to live, a job, a social circle, a financial life, obtaining all the licenses, permits and authorizations for daily life, learning enough of the language to court a young lady......that creates an entirely different experience. While I see where you're coming from, not all experiences are the same. Being married we didn't live on base, had to pay rent and for utilities, pay licensing fees and insurance for a vehicle, did 75% of our shopping in the community, our daughter was born with a health issue that required a few trips to a children's hospital in London so we had some experience with British Healthcare system. About the only time I hit the chowhall was when I was pulling alert duty... Absolutely agree, but even your experience is a step, or two, removed from "going native", if you will.
Sic Semper Tyrannis
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 5,059
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2001
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To me, it is a much different and raw experience when you don’t have a base or the USG support to live off and you have to navigate it all by yourself with minimal company support. Hey, sounds like the Peace Corps 🙂 It's hard for people to understand the difference, sometimes, between LIVING in a foreign country and VISITING a foreign country. Living on base in a foreign country makes it very difficult to have anything but a visitor's experience. Going to a foreign country, finding your own place to live, a job, a social circle, a financial life, obtaining all the licenses, permits and authorizations for daily life, learning enough of the language to court a young lady......that creates an entirely different experience. I would agree to an extent. I know lots of people that have to live on the economy/ off base while “stationed” overseas. All of the ones I know that lived off base liked their experiences a lot better than those that lived on base. I can also say that while a contractor I was not on a US base, but that of Turkey as they ran it. Also while in Bosnia, I spent time on other bases ran by counties other than the US. Yes, they were still guarded bases, but a totally different experience for sure.
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,010
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,010 |
Born in Frankfurt a few months after the wall went up in Berlin. Dad finished his tour there and we went back again (this time to Heidelberg) from about '69 to '72. Fast forward to 1999, I took a billet as a 3MC on the USS Emory S Land, the sub tender there in LaMaddalena for three years. Oh, and a few months in Guam back in '96. Lived in those places, traveled to a bunch more!
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 873
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 873 |
Germany, england as a military brat.
Been to Spain, Poland, holland, france, greece, Italy, Okinawa, japan, Iceland, many others over that way from early 60s to 80s.
Did I make you cry......boooo hooo, life goes on.
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 9,921 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 9,921 Likes: 1 |
Spent a lot of time overseas in Asia but didn't live there
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 12,168 Likes: 16
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 12,168 Likes: 16 |
Living on base in a foreign country makes it very difficult to have anything but a visitor's experience. Going to a foreign country, finding your own place to live, a job, a social circle, a financial life, obtaining all the licenses, permits and authorizations for daily life, learning enough of the language to court a young lady......that creates an entirely different experience. While I see where you're coming from, not all experiences are the same. Being married we didn't live on base, had to pay rent and for utilities, pay licensing fees and insurance for a vehicle, did 75% of our shopping in the community, our daughter was born with a health issue that required a few trips to a children's hospital in London so we had some experience with British Healthcare system. About the only time I hit the chowhall was when I was pulling alert duty... Absolutely agree, but even your experience is a step, or two, removed from "going native", if you will. Everyone can agree having some level of support from Uncle Sam makes living overseas easier. That was not the OPs question. I know I had much more than a "visitor's experience" and knew dive spots on Okinawa better than most any native Okinowan. That's mainly because the native Okinowans didn't do much diving, especially at the Southern and Northern end of the island. Being able to buy diesel for the Land Cruiser, flat bed, and boat at the Kadena Marine at 1/3 of the off base price was a real advantage in exploring the island. Add in $1.00 air fills for 63's, 80's and mil AL 83's. More than a few times we headed to Hedo Point with 50 filled 80's in the flat bed and 50 gallons of diesel and met the boat for a long weekend of spearing fish. We always turned a profit selling the fish on the local markets. That USA support enhanced the experience for me.
John Burns
I have all the sources.
They can't stop the signal.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 12,906 Likes: 5
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 12,906 Likes: 5 |
Easier, yes, but that’s not the same as “living” there. Sounds like you visited an awful lot of beaches there. Is that something the locals do?
Did you do things with your local friends? Did you play in a sports league with them? Go to restaurants with locals? Shop at their stores? Did your kids attend school with them? Did you work with them? Did you speak their language, read their books, watch their movies? Go to their doctors and hospitals? Attend the neighborhood meetings? Plant a garden with local vegetables? Join a book club? Garden club? Any social group?
Sic Semper Tyrannis
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,423 Likes: 19
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,423 Likes: 19 |
Easier, yes, but that’s not the same as “living” there. Sounds like you visited an awful lot of beaches there. Is that something the locals do?
Did you do things with your local friends? Did you play in a sports league with them? Go to restaurants with locals? Shop at their stores? Did your kids attend school with them? Did you work with them? Did you speak their language, read their books, watch their movies? Go to their doctors and hospitals? Attend the neighborhood meetings? Plant a garden with local vegetables? Join a book club? Garden club? Any social group? When I lived over seas yes to all of the above. Helped I spoke the local languages. I chose to live outside the embassy grounds and military bases. Why live overseas when you live in a sheltered US compound?
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,423 Likes: 19
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,423 Likes: 19 |
How much Japanese do you know? Speak, read and write it? lol Living on base in a foreign country makes it very difficult to have anything but a visitor's experience. Going to a foreign country, finding your own place to live, a job, a social circle, a financial life, obtaining all the licenses, permits and authorizations for daily life, learning enough of the language to court a young lady......that creates an entirely different experience. While I see where you're coming from, not all experiences are the same. Being married we didn't live on base, had to pay rent and for utilities, pay licensing fees and insurance for a vehicle, did 75% of our shopping in the community, our daughter was born with a health issue that required a few trips to a children's hospital in London so we had some experience with British Healthcare system. About the only time I hit the chowhall was when I was pulling alert duty... Absolutely agree, but even your experience is a step, or two, removed from "going native", if you will. Everyone can agree having some level of support from Uncle Sam makes living overseas easier. That was not the OPs question. I know I had much more than a "visitor's experience" and knew dive spots on Okinawa better than most any native Okinowan. That's mainly because the native Okinowans didn't do much diving, especially at the Southern and Northern end of the island. Being able to buy diesel for the Land Cruiser, flat bed, and boat at the Kadena Marine at 1/3 of the off base price was a real advantage in exploring the island. Add in $1.00 air fills for 63's, 80's and mil AL 83's. More than a few times we headed to Hedo Point with 50 filled 80's in the flat bed and 50 gallons of diesel and met the boat for a long weekend of spearing fish. We always turned a profit selling the fish on the local markets. That USA support enhanced the experience for me.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,241
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,241 |
Man, I have been all over the place. Sometimes for a couple days to 1 yr. I mean every schitthole there is. They did let me set idle in Rota, Spain for 3 years. I plucked up and asked my Master Chief if I could go to shore duty. He laughed and sent me to Spain. I thought it was alright and really thought I was getting a break until I had to start rotating out of Croatia and then Kosovo. It was then I knew that I been had. Croatia was hell in those days. People getting sniped whilst retrieving water from a broken pipe that was just barely trickling out. After they sent the men to water and they got shot, they sent some old women thinking they wouldn't get hammered. They did. Then they tried sending the kids....
-Piss into the wind.
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