I had been thinking about how I've been spending my christmas when my computer chimed with a new arrival to my inbox.

It was an email from my friend Z, now Capt. Z of the United States Army. We'd met last year while he was on loan to finish his degree. He had been anxious to get back to "the real world" and do "real stuff".

So he sent me this picture, Boxing Day in Alaska; being loaded with 20 of his closest friends into a Chinook for an Arctic Exercise.

I remember the recruitment effort he'd put on me. It wasn't wasted, could have been successful at another time who knows. But now Looking at the pictures, part of me screams to be there, the guts, the glory, the freedom, the travel. Of course, the pictures don't show the other part of the job, the part that keeps me out of a service career.

And my plan, well that should require just as much guts, and give me more than enough glory, freedom and travel all the while avoiding the need to kill or be killed.

But either way, It's still great (no matter how amazing) to see that Christmas is enjoyed just as much on either side of the spectrum.