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Here I sit - an old Soldier already with one combat tour under my belt - working in the Pentagon making twice what these young troops make....and I feel guilty as hell. I am trying my best to get back to Iraq. I feel so out-of-place.

They also serve who stand and wait.

Seriously, your doing what you're doing is helping keep those young fellows safe. Keep doing it and do your very best (that old saw about doing your utmost "in the station of life to which God (or the higher-ups) has been pleased to call me" really has some truth in it.) My F-I-L wound up at the Pentagon after Guadalcanal, Iwo, and Saipan. He also felt a little "out of it" but ultimately realized he was doing good where he was.

Although the Left loved to mock the service of President Reagan, the truth is that he joined the Army Reserve as a private in 1937 as rumors of a second war in Europe began. If not the first Hollywood star to volunteer, he was certainly among the very first. Following intensive training he was Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry. (As we who love RWR know, he was a terrific horseman his entire life.)

In 1942, he was called to active duty with the US Army Air Corps. Due to an old football injury, he was not allowed into a combat unit. He was assigned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit, which made over 400 training films. Those training films probably helped to save countless lives of soldiers, sailors and Marines, although I'm sure RWR wished he could have served in combat. In 1943 he was promoted to Captain, and it was in this grade that he was honorably discharged in 1945.