[ChotooMotoo]

Lets all be honest with ourselves, and with eachother, I don't know anything about what it's like to be a medical student, and Jaysh doesn't have a clue what it's like to be poor. I'm talking about being poor, and working in a foreign country based on my personal experience of being poor and my sisters experience both of being poor, and trying to teach english in a foreign country. I assure you, I'm not talking out my rear end, as some have automatically assumed.

I know how much a ticket to Pakistan costs, I was just there in December. Unless you live in NY, the cost is closer to $2000 for the ticket, becuase you first have to take a flight to Chicago, New York or some other point of international departure. I ticket from Seattle cost $1500 in 2004, and the prices have gone up since then. You also have to factor in the cost of getting a Visa (about $100 for 5 year multiple entry) your traveling expenses themselves (give yourself another $50) and the cost of a passport (~$100) and you're looking at a lot of expenses. Also note that your visa does not allow you to work in a foreign country. You have to apply for a seperate work visa for that, and most countries will not grant it unless you already have a job. The way drafts work, you don't always have time to save $2000, get all your papers together AND find an employer to sponsor your work visa. Sure, you could try and find a job and work illegally, but as my sister would be happy to tell you, having worked in a foreign country teaching English, that doesn't work very well in a lot of cases. Sure, authorities are willing to look the other way when it comes to very low labor type jobs, but they are a little more strict when it comes to high paid high demand jobs that could be filled by educated locals.

Jaysh, even if you believe that a person who joins the armed forces, even in extreme duress, is doomed to hell for all eternity and their Islam is as null and void as if they had left it and become Christians, that is your oppinion. You came to that oppinion based on reading the oppinions of others (which were formed by reading interpretations of the Quran and Hadeeth and such). The final word is up to Allah (swt). Follow your oppinion, but be a little easy with your brothers and sisters in such matters. That's the only thing I was trying to make you understand. Clearly, I failed.

Thanks for trying.