Is Somalia considered a combat deployment?

Good find.

You have that right brother like I said Oct 93 was a big suck

SFC Thomas Howes - I retired in 91 and knew all the D Boys that bought the farm. Since then I have lost more than a half dozen Brother in Iraq, Afghanistan and a couple in North Africa. I spent several months myself in Sudan back in 1989 which was one misery drill beyond belief. The women and kids did all the work and goats ruled Khartoum. Every thing had sand in it, what ever you ate, even the bread. I thought about learning French back in 2010 and taking a contractor job but changed my mind when I remembered Sudan. Africa is mostly a dirty sand box. Opinions vary....

SPC: I was thinking about going to Djibouti until a close friend was murdered on the range training their soldiers. Djibouti was once a colony of France which the French Foreign Legion considered it a punishment assignment. Somali is no different except larger. Just stay in the army long enough and you will be deployed to a combat zone. Combat is an exciting endeavor until your Brother bites the dust right next to you!. Furthermore, it is not fun sitting in a duck and run bunker or in your trailer wondering if the next rocket or mortar has your name on it. In my opinion, being blown up is worse than dying. I told myself I was coming home in one piece of not at all. I have witnessed enough over 26 years in combat situations.