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Not being a veteran myself, let me tell me about my dad's and brother's veteran experiences.
Dad was in the US Army Infantry during WWII, and chased the German Army northbound up the Italian boot.
His weapon was an M1 Garand, and he hated the loud pinging noise it made when the last round was fired.

After being wounded in combat and recovering in North Africa, they shipped him back to Italy, and put
him on the overnight shift in the Signal tent. He and 1 other signalman sent and received messages about 11PM-7AM.
But after a while they found out that only the 1st and last hours of their shift had much to do. So every other night,
1 of them would stay awake the whole shift, while the other one got a chance to sleep about 6 hours. Being a young buck,
my father would be well-rested and would spend the daytimes sightseeing around Pisa/Leghorn, Italy.

The war ended in May 1945 but my father didn't have enough time in theater to go home, like a lot of other soldiers.
The US Army provided transportation for the troops to visit tons of European cities. My father got to go to Switzerland,
the French Cote D'Azure (the Riviera), Rome, and saw the relatives in Vizzini, Sicily. While in Sicily he and his American
buddy were seeing some local girls and some local Sicilian guys were going to attack them. He fired one round in the air
from his Beretta, and that sent those troublemakers elsewhere!

My dad was able to return to the states in January 1946 after the US Army had provided him with war experience and a great
tour of Europe.

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My brother was a loadmaster on C-2 Greyhounds in VRC-50. He was stationed at Subic for about 4 out of his 5.5 years in the
Navy. He was landbased about 9 months of the year, and carrier-based for about 3 months each year. He went to Japan, South
Korea, Diego Garcia, and Kenya. He picked up Kenya's top leader, flew him out to the carrier, and then the Navy blew off a bunch
of ammo of various types.

While living in the PI (Phillipine Islands) he and his friends had maid service for very cheap rates. But the maids tended to help
themselves to various items around the house, so they kept changing maids. They also had to lay down the law to the maids,
because if they didn't the maids would turn the Navy men's house into the local clubhouse. They would invite hordes of their
friends over to the Navy guy's house to play the stereo and watch TV.

SIA