Originally Posted by emsgoof

Yep, and the only thing you have to give is back to back 18 month deployments to the desert, leaving family and friends behind. Or better yet, a 4 year sea duty rotation, followed by what is supposed to be your 3 year shore rotation just to have them pull you to the desert again as an individual augmentee for another branch of the service. Then, if you are one of the people to get hurt on AD, you get to come back to an incompetent VA program, where they don't treat you, and give out your personal information because they "accidentally" let someone take a laptop home, so now you can't even apply for credit unless it's in person because you have a warning on your credit reports... (ie: no pre-approval for mortgage or vehicle loans, etc)
Better yet, you wait 2 years on an on-base housing list just to get into some rat-infested firetrap (no they're not all like that) while your housing allowance doesn't cover the amount you have to pay in rent / commute costs.
Yeah, military is freaking sunshine and rainbows...