That's great you had that. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, I was on MTTs (2 years total) operating on small embedded teams where we lived with local security forces (Iraqi Army and Afghan Border Police, respectively). We didn't live on large bases like most.

But we had pretty much constant operations, so exercise wasn't a problem. To clarify, I meant that I got away from rowing when I deployed, not from exercise (until I was injured, that is).