>> nate thicke is somebody i'm very proud of, and i've become a good friend with. i was in washington talking about his book a couple weeks ago, as a matter of fact. he's a great example of a liberal arts graduate going into the marine corps. his unit was involved, he was in afghanistan first, then it was involved in the, in the invasion of iraq in march of 2003. the book, "generation kill," and the hbo film really dealt with nate thicke's unit, and this classics major at dartmouth, once they got up to baghdad, he wanted to take his la tune down to -- platoon down to see babylon and see the ancient ruins of iraq. i liked that. although he said a few months later he couldn't have taken his platoon down there unless he had an armored escort and a bigger unit. but there was a time tre, that brief window, when you could do that. he's just coming on the dartmouth board of trustees. he's a remarkable young man. >> this question speaks to the transition program in the military, and the questioner says we go through boot camp where 10 to 12 weeks are taken to transform a y