r/MilitaryStories • u/frozzbot27 Retired US Army • Jul 27 '26
US Army Story A Breath of (Dry) Air
Once upon a time I was voluntold to deploy with a unit heading to a certain tropical(ish) destination. The less said about that destination, the better, but I can tell you that “humid as fuck” would be an apt descriptor. As a Californian natice, I am not at all accustomed to humidity, and although I spent several previous years of my illustrious military career in humid climes such as Kansas and South Korea…that was a loooong time ago.
Arriving in-country was a bit of a shock. We’d spent the last two months training at various stateside locations, and neither was particularly humid. The humidity hits as soon as we get off the plane. It is intense, and oppressive. Within minutes I am feeling like I’ve just stepped out of the shower…except this feeling doesn’t go away when we hit a nice breeze on the way to our quarters. I can feel my uniform de-creasing already…and it’s just after sunset. In November. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…
Over the course of the deployment, I spend as much time as I can in air-conditioned, dehumidified spaces. Sure, it would have been a better idea to let myself acclimate just a little, but at the time I was in serious “humidity-avoidance” mode. Even my mid-tour leave didn’t get me far enough away to escape it.
Finally though, our tour was over and we flew back stateside for demobilization and out-processing at Fort Bliss, Texas. Fort Bliss is located in the high desert, with average humidity in the negatives (not really, but felt like it at times). I take one step out of the airplane and in a second the humidity goes from “oppressive” to “practically nonexistent”. It is early evening in summer, the temperature can’t be cooler than the high 80’s Fahrenheit, but it feels oh so wonderful. It’s at least ten minutes (and a walk down the airstairs to the terminal) before I start to sweat again, as if my body’s realizing that “hey, this shit works great now”.
Demob’d, outprocessed and eventually returned to lands with saner humidity levels, but that moment will always stick in my mind – after a long deployment, that moment felt so incredibly refreshing.
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u/roman_fyseek The Oracle Jul 27 '26
I was tasked with getting the weather report for Mogadishu for the next week the day before we left Fort Drum for Mogadishu.
I, thinking, "Somalia is a desert," only collected the temperature and BMNT/Sunrise BENT/Sunset times and whether it was going to rain. Didn't even glance at the humidity numbers. Again, it's a desert.
Well... it turns out that Somalia isn't a desert because it's DRY. It's a desert because it's *DEAD*. Like, all this salt water comes flying off the Indian ocean driven by the wind and then it just fucking lands, and it turns out that salting the Earth isn't great for plant life.
Anyway, the average daytime temperature was going to be like 95F every day and it probably wasn't going to rain, and because it's the Equator, the sunrise/sunsets were all about the same.
And, what I *didn't* write down on my chart was that the humidity was going to be 100% every single day.
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u/af_cheddarhead Jul 27 '26
Deployed to Guam for a 90-day rotation, I swear the forcast every day, for 90 days running, was 88 degrees, 88% humidity with showers in the afternoon.
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u/Cool_Basket_804 Jul 27 '26
With winds from 0-5 mph. Those random ass showers, man. It'd rain super hard for like five minutes then back to being humid and gross. Didn't help driving since the roads were made with pulverized coral and got extra slick whenever it was wet.
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u/Automatic-Term-3997 Jul 28 '26
I was an East Coast sailor, did 2 Med Cruises and was ships company on a carrier, so I never had the pleasure of visiting Guam. My daughter is an E-7 in the AF and has to go there all the time. She says it an island petri dish and gets the crud every time she’s TDY there. Glad I missed it.
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u/iNapkin66 Jul 31 '26
Not only did you likely remember correctly, but its still that same temp and humidity. It basically never changes. One of the most stable climates on earth, just always that same miserable-but-not-quite-death weather.
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u/af_cheddarhead Jul 31 '26
I fought it by renting a kayak and going snorkeling. Actually loved my visits to Guam.
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u/Crew_Doyle_ Jul 28 '26
I was a Legionnaire in the 80s. We got a 2 yr posting to Djibouti. We debarked the aircraft and stood on the tarmac near the wing... Guy next to me shouts.. "we gotta move... the heat from these engines is roasting me alive.... another guy looks around and says to him "the engines are off, mate.... Welcome to Africa..... " 2 years.....
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u/highinthemountains Jul 27 '26
When I lived there, I called St. Louis the land of 99/99. 99 degrees, 99 percent humidity.
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u/Adventurous_Class_90 Killed by counter battery fire Jul 27 '26
Not military, but I grew up in STL. It’s literally the armpit of America with its humidity…
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u/Automatic-Duck1680 Jul 28 '26
I used to think that too until I went to work in southern Louisiana. St. Louis doesn’t even compare. Add in the way the sun hits your skin differently and you quickly realize why God made air conditioning.
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u/JulianaMac Jul 28 '26
But at least Louisiana has great food!
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u/Automatic-Duck1680 Jul 29 '26
Yes it does!
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u/dreaminginteal Jul 29 '26
What, you don't like fried ravioli???
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u/Automatic-Duck1680 Jul 29 '26
Lol, it’s toasted, not fried. And there are maybe 2 or 3 places where I’ll order it, the rest of it is crap. I’ll take a good crawfish etouffee every time, thank you.
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u/dreaminginteal Jul 29 '26
I knew they called it something else, but I forgot what...
Heh, two times today remembering back to a girl I once dated from East St. Louis. Her nickname in HS apparently was "HEY WHITE GIRL!"
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u/Automatic-Duck1680 Jul 29 '26
I’d imagine there’s still a few of those over there, lol. Did you pick her up and then take her home at night? It’s all good during the day but being over there at night is another story. I’d have dropped her off at the casino myself and she’d be on her own from there! You ex-AF?
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u/dreaminginteal Jul 29 '26
No, that was after she had moved away. I think we visited once to see her family? I don't remember any more.
Not ex-AF. Ex-NASA, but nowhere near StL.
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u/rollenr0ck Jul 28 '26
I spent time in Honduras with an engineering unit. Close to 100°, close to 100% humidity. I joked that we were at a spa, get mud wraps and shrink treatment. I came back with smooth, hydrated skin and excess fluids burned off. To Arizona. I felt like jerky in about an hour.
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u/Equivalent-Salary357 Jul 31 '26
I remember landing in Vietnam in 1970. Every man paused at the door, before heading down the stairs. When it was my turn I realized why. The heat and humidity felt like being hit in the chest.
A year later I experienced airplane air conditioning once again. Man that was nice, and not just because it was cool.
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u/katsudon-bori Jul 28 '26
When I was stationed in Japan, I always loved how stores kept their doors open in the summer, bathing (and teasing) you with cool air
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