If you're an American Airman or sailor today and you log into your computer and see an automated email stating something like, "Congratulations, you have been selected for an assignment to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam," you're probably printing it out and framing it somewhere everyone can see. And you're definitely rubbing people's faces in it.
But if it's 1762 and you find out you're going to the French or Dutch Guyana, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, etc, how do you feel (most likely)? What was the attitude at the time regarding these places, which would today be considered prime assignments?
On top of that how did the process work? Could your family come with you? Did entire battalions go together? What was the length of time you'd be there?
I know some of these answers are going to depend on which country you're from or the exact time period involved. Just looking for a rough idea. Thanks.
There is likely a level of context that a military historian could provide, but here is a rough idea of what to expect as a member of the Spanish military in Cuba in the 17th or 18th century.
If you were posted in Cuba in the 17th century, you'd pray for a posting to Havana. The island was largely an economic backwater. Havana was, at least, an important port that served as a key stop for the Spanish fleets bringing American gold and silver back to Seville.
If it was the 17th or 18th centuries, this would also have been a dangerous posting. The 16th and 17th centuries were marked by several major piratical attacks against major Cuban ports, including major ones against Havana. Until the late 18th century, Havana was relatively lightly fortified and defended. This only changed after the English successfully captured the city in 1762, controlling it for around a year before giving it back in exchange for the Spanish giving Great Britain sovereignty over Florida.
In the 18th century pirate attacks were less of a threat, since the city had been built up to at least withstand pirates, but the constant wars between European powers left you unsure if Havana would ever be sieged, like the English did successfully as mentioned above.
So, in summary, it was not like being sent to Hawaii. More of a cross between being posted to Idaho and having to defend a fort in the Old American West, which could be attacked at any time by Native Americans in superior numbers to anything you could field.
If you were an officer, there was a good chance that local creoles would try to organize a match with eligible young women of a certain class. You would provide the prestige of your rank and connection to the metropolis. They would provide a nice dowry. Everyone would leave happy. Hell, maybe you'd stick around after retiring from the army to enjoy your newfound small-scale sugar mill or large cattle ranch.
A common soldier probably wouldn't be as lucky. The fact that you're in the army would give you a certain edge as an eligible bachelor, but if you stayed it would be to take on some kind of profession. In the 19th century Spaniards would often become grocers, but I'm not sure about earlier periods. Honestly, you may prefer going home, since Cuba doesn't strike it rich until the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with the Plantation Revolution that marked the beginning of the sugar boom. You may try your luck at tobacco, grown in small plots known as Vegas along rivers and predominantly with free labor, but many of the professions which would earn you a decent wage and a degree of respectability in Spain were considered slave work in Cuba, thus making it unlikely that you'd want to 'lower' yourself.
Unsure about the part about families, particularly for common soldiers, especially before the 19th century. Sorry. I am vaguely aware of extremely specialized literature that has been put out there recently about the Spanish military in Cuba during the 18th century, but I can't seem to find the author right now. Edit: Found the guy I was thinking of. Allen James Keuthe: Cuba, 1753-1815: Crown, Military and Society. University of Tennessee Press, 1986.
Basic bibliography:
Manuel Moreno Fraginals: Cuba/Espana Espana/Cuba: Una Historia Comun.
Instituto de Historia de Cuba: Historia de Cuba, Vol. I, La Colonia.
Before the period 1840 (the Opium Wars) - 1857 (the Indian Mutiny) the British tended to raise corps specifically for the colony. You had to be pretty desperate to join the colours. Families went with them as "camp followers" for whom no provision was made, although they made themselves useful as nurses and sellers of food (provisioning was always a problem for the British). In the First Afghan War, after the British were defeated, the women were left to the mercy of the Afghan tribesmen. For example, the New South Wales Corps was manned by the sweepings of the military prisons, troublemakers and officers facing cashier. They earned themselves the name of The Rum Corps for their blatant corruption and abuse of power. In India the East india Company raised its own force of Indian and British mercenaries - the Presidency Armies. Loot was a big attraction for the officers, but the officer training school at Addiscombe also produced great leaders like the Duke of Wellington - Arthur Wellesley. After 1857, the rule was that each British regiment had one battalion at home training, one in the colonies and one recovering or on leave. Also after the American War of Independence the British only kept their forces in the white-settled colonies (Canada, Australia, etc) if the local population wished it. Otherwise it was left to a local militia to defend. Local control was exercised through a paramilitary police force, usually mounted police, modelled on the Royal Irish Constabulary. Famously the British liked to federate their colonies so that they paid for their own defence. The Empire was run on a shoestring, something that came back to bite them in the 20th century.