Iraq...

So, today M and I went to a job fair.  Generally at these things you shake hands and get someone to actually hold your resume as opposed to uploading it to a giant computer that gets you no where.  At this thing today I got two people tell me to be prepared for phone calls and letters.  One job is as an analyst, the other is as a data loader and trainer.  Both are with smallish companies, which I have experience with, and both will pay me through the nose... about 60+k.  Not too shabby when 2 years ago I was doing 37k. 

The catch?  Well, both are here in the US, but the data loader position has a 2-6 month deployment to Iraq.  Hmm.  I'm a tad conflicted about this.  While it would pay sooo much money and be a decent foray into something new and adventerous... I have a husband, I want to have a baby sometime soon (if I can, but we'll know more on Thursday), and I have this thing with death.  I'd like to not be dead.  Today I got an email from my corporate overlords about a contractor who died in an IED attack in Afghanistan.  He was a doctoral candidate at Oxford.  He didnt need to go there. 

While I would love to have a nice little adventure, I would not like to die doing it.  But dying some fantastical death in a humvee is not my biggest fear.  My biggest fear is getting captured and my parents being sent a finger in the mail.  And there being an MSNBC article about how its a good sign because that means I'm still alive!  Dude... no. 

What do you guys think?  Regardless of whether or not you agree with why we're there and all that stupid shit, I would be going to help out the dudes who are there.  Teaching them how to use their data and stuffs.  I would be doing something good.  What I'm doing now is boring.  One of the dudes I talked with today asked me why I wanted to leave my position and I looked at him and said, "I'm a cataloger.  I need something a little more mentally stimulating."  The guy laughed. 

I miss my old job.  No, I havent gotten over it.  No, I dont particularly want to... I got screwed over.  I got royally screwed with how I lost my old job.  Its a very very sore spot, so no matter what I was going to do next, I wasnt going to like it.  Not that I could ever imagine liking what I do now.  I'm entirely ready to move on.  I've gotten what I wanted from this position, which is a higher clearance.  Now I'd like to do something meaningful.  I told my dad that I would give my current employer until July to get their act together and put me somewhere else, or else I was cutting bait.  Since they have paid for me to get this clearance, I should show some kind of appreciation.  But if they dont move me to a place I like I will not stick around.  I can do other things, apparently! 

What do you guys think?  I am honestly looking for input, because I am conflicted.  All things equal, I dont know which position I would pick.  I would choose the employer that would keep me on after the contract ended, or which would help me further my "career".  But I am conflicted... comments??