Reply #27: Weird question, because one of my oldest friends and ex-fiance

[blonndee]

is right there in Afghanistan, and he's there because of money. He's career army, and doesn't want to be there, but how can he just "retire" (quit) so close to real retirement? This is his sixth deployment - five to the big A, one to Iraq. He's literally trapped, just hoping he can make it until he retires. And, he says, even if he doesn't make it, at least his daughter will be taken care of. And if he DOES make it, he says, it's all good. He'll have health care and retirement for life, as long as he is able to work in the private sector too. (We'll see. I hope he does. He certainly has earned it.)

He's army, not Blackwater, but so broke that combat pay is making it so he can pay his bills and help pay for his daughter to go to college. Barely.