I agree that there is a large amount of lip service being paid to the advisor. I completed the Captain’s Course recently and it broke down like this. Women did not go on advisor missions, which makes sense since most Iraqi Officers I met wouldn’t listen to them anyway. The gaurd and reserve guys would simply go back to their units. Then all the active duty guys had to fight over the plum assignments to Washington, Japan, etc. There were a handful of jobs in maneuver units, and then the bottom part of the class took the assignments to become advisers.

The bottom guys were, for the most part, are still bright and capable guys who will do fine, but the message was clear to me and others who were mercifully left out of that rat race. You can cut a deal for a future assignment by volunteering as an adviser or you can wait until you're told to be one.

I have a desk job now; I turned down the $35,000 because my life is worth more to me and my family. I am completing my service at eight years and I am starting my life over. I am proud of my service and the folks I served alongside, but fighting a morally ambiguous war for an ambivalent public is pointless to me.