Troop Levels in Iraq

Stay in school, get your degree. ROTC is a good way to go, if you want to get a commission.

 

The military offers killer scholarships especially for doctors. Crazy money, hundreds of thousands of dollars!!

 

Yah but who wants to work in one of those MASH units the rest of their lives? No thanks!

 

one year of service for one year of med school (med school takes about 8 years).

 

You've watched too much TV. Military doctors serve most of their career stateside. Most of their overseas tours are spent on relatively comfortable bases. At worst, you'll only put in a few years in a MASH (which is Army, not Navy), or the like. Danr is right. (Whoa! Did I just say that?!?) The military does offer significant rewards for professionals of the traditional definition (doctor, lawyer, clergy). I'm on the paperwork road to becoming a chaplain myself, and the benefits easily outweigh the costs.

 

you are correct sir. Hope you are stationed in a pleasant place (I hear Greenland is nice now that it is melting).

 

I guess that would depend on your definition of "NICE". Here is something that I found in Wikipedia:
Wikipedia

 

My .02 cents worth. Being a marine I just dont understand why someone would join the military and not think for one second that they may get called into action. Speaking for myself and what I noticed while in, we trained very hard every day and as soon as the word came to pack it all up and jump on a ship or plane we all were extremely motivated to shoot at LIVE targets being it vehicles or enemy instead of hours or months on a live-fire range shooting at fixed targets. Of course there will always be a deserter or two in every company who somehow manages to miss a float and they are dealt with by a military court martial. I have seen first-hand people causing severe self-bodily harm to get out of gruelling 20 mile humps with full ear or a 6 month float to the Mediterranean. The military is one of the most underappreciated jobs there is. Whenever I see a man/woman in uniform I always stop and give them my support and gratitude for their sacrifice.

 

I just finished a book that explores in some detail personal relationships between men and women on the battledfield in Iraq. The book is interesting and informative.

The protagonist and author is Sergeant Kayla Williams, U.S. Army, 101st Airborne Division. She served as an Arabic translator on the battlefield in Iraq, a little older and smarter than your typical male gunslinger. She had to confront young, testosterone-poisoned, crude and rude, male special forces warriors on a daily basis. Kayla apparently had a pretty worldly and rough life before enlisting. Her youthful experiences, personality, and intellect allowed her to cope reasonably well in a male-dominated (putting it politely) environment with considerable skill and patience. I am certain that many women could not, or would not, have functioned under the physical and emotional conditions that she faced. I thought she was pretty cool, similar to a friend I had in college. I happen to like intelligent, confident, outspoken, heterosexual women with good hearts. Most guys apparently don't.

This book is much different from any other battlefield memoir that I have read. It may be unique in this genre because of it's candid assessment of the American military from a female perspective. Her view of Arab culture is interesting also. If you are interested in how people think, and how the U.S. Army functions in a foreign and hostile war zone, this book is a worthwhile purchase.

Williams, Kayla, and M.E. Staub, 2006, Love my rifle more than you : young and female in the U.S. Army, W.W. Norton & Company, 500 5th Avenue, New York, N.Y 10110, 292 pages.

It is particularly interesting to me because my grand-daughter Valerie returned from Iraq earlier this year and is scheduled to return to Iraq next Spring. She was slightly wounded twice in combat. My daughter-in-law Yvette is currently serving in Afghanistan and other remote areas. I see interesting comparisons and contrasts in their experiences and impressions.