One of the new percs the armed forces is offering our fighting elite:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/21/military....reut/index.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The U.S. Army has long lured recruits with the slogan "Be All You Can Be," but now soldiers and their families can receive plastic surgery, including breast enlargements, on the taxpayers' dime.

The New Yorker magazine reports in its July 26th edition that members of all four branches of the U.S. military can get face-lifts, breast enlargements, liposuction and nose jobs for free -- something the military says helps surgeons practice their skills.

"Anyone wearing a uniform is eligible," Dr. Bob Lyons, chief of plastic surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio told the magazine, which said soldiers needed the approval of their commanding officers to get the time off.

Between 2000 and 2003, military doctors performed 496 breast enlargements and 1,361 liposuction surgeries on soldiers and their dependents, the magazine said.

The magazine quoted an Army spokeswoman as saying, "the surgeons have to have someone to practice on."

After reading the first line, I was ready to be outraged by more government waste. But the whole "practice" angle make perfect sense to me.

The question you have to ask yourself is if you really want to be somebody's practice run.

You know what I find to be sad? The soldiers put their lives on the line for this country, and can get tax-payer funded, totally unnecessary surgeries. Yet, many military families/persons are practically broke, or bankrupt. I'd much rather see my tax dollars going to support these families by helping with their bills, especially while they're away fighting this war. Face-lifts, breast augmentations, and liposuction is not something I want my money going towards. Just my two cents.

If it is needed to give the docs the surgical experience they need, why not? Who's gonna volunteer to be cut-open and stitched-up otherwise?

Because it's not a necessary procedure, most of the time. I think it's more worthwhile to help these people out financially, than with their insecurities about their bodies. Plus if these surgeons want guinea pigs, I'm sure there are more than plenty of willing folks out their who want augmentations, and can't afford the regular prices of a high-priced cosmetic surgery.

I doubt it is done by experienced military docs for vanity reasons on patients. I would guess that it is necessary for repairing people damaged in battle or by disease. So they practice on healthy volunteers and when a burned or injured or diseased patient needs similar work the docs are experienced at it.

If this were the case, than I'd be all for it. However, the way I read the article, it seems to be for vanity purposes.

That was also my interpretation.

I'm laughing while picturing a military doctor stuffing a wound with a silicone implant. Then he can put the implant in the freezer and use it as a cold compress.

But if a female soldier gets her boob blown off, you'd better believe that the surgeon needs to know how to rebuild it!

I don't know about liposuction though.