You are very correct, my travels with the USN took me to 19 countries, some not so pleasant or fun, Tunisia,and Morroco come to mind.
My husband and I lived in Saudi Arabia for five years. He worked for ARMACO as a gas engineer. As my husband said "It was the adventure of a lifetime."
ARAMCO gave all of us lavish repat money and we saw a lot of the world that we KNEW we'd never see once we got home.
Morroco and Tunisia...not pleasant or fun. Did you pick up any Arabic words or phrases?