You're preaching to the choir, dude!  I'm asking myself the same thing.  IMO we need to go back to the 18-division Army we had during the Cold War. 

BTW, for those interested, I'm at Doha.  Honestly, for a deployment, it's pretty cushy.  Still, being over here for a year instead of being able to finish law school and actually start my career does suck.  The only silver lining is that I'm making some serious dough. 

Thanks for all the words of support, though! 

Hey - I was there from Jan-Jul 1999.  Did a few jumps on McKenna DZ near Ali Al Salem AB, too.

If you get a chance to get downtown, there's a really good italian restaurant across the street from the "Sharq Market."  If you ever get the chance, there's also a really good Indian restaurant near the Kuwait Towers.  If you can only eat downtown ONE TIME, the restaurant actually IN the towers is MAGNIFICENT.  Best meals I've ever had, world-wide.  Unbelievable spread...

When I was there we also had the opportunity to do some fairly decent SCUBA diving using MWR equipment and local dive shops.  I even did my Advanced Open Water certification while there.

Your situation may be completely different, but I just thought I'd offer up that info for you. 

Best Regards,
JR

"Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure. "
George W. Bush

I miss the nasty burgers at Uncle Frosty's, but for where i was over there, it was bertter than nothing.

"He that hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart" - King Henry V

"It doesn't matter what you think, you don't get paid to do that."