When life commitments intercede with the privilege of being a student-athlete, reality can hit with the subtlety of a punch in the face.

With the state of the world today, many student-athletes have had to press the pause button on their college years -- normally filled with memories of practices, games, homework and the building of lifelong friendships -- to become active members for military service.

Whether the decision to join a reserve unit was to find discipline in their lives or an avenue to help cover the cost of tuition, it didn't matter after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Being sent to the Middle East and placed in harm's way was the only reason that took precedence over all others.

The NCAA has made the path back to re-acclimating to the lifestyle of a college student easier by offering a legislated exception for military service as it relates to the student-athlete's five-year clock. In most cases, the exception is all that is needed for student-athletes who have served overseas. Also, the NCAA has the ability to approve waivers for student-athletes because of military service, which alleviates re-acclimation concerns.

Most of these academic issues also are worked out at the individual institution to make sure that when a student-athlete returns, he or she is in good academic standing so there is no need to seek a waiver or an appeal.

There are many examples around the country of people who have had their lives interrupted for important duty. Despite being overseas, many have tried to further their education in places where sand dunes took the place of lecture halls. They also have used the Internet to keep tabs on the people who would normally be in their everyday lives.

Following are five of those examples of student-athletes who added a service element to the student-athlete model; maintained their academic standing; and returned to campus with a different per- spective on military life, college life and life in general.

Born to serve

Ever since she could remember, Brooke Brittain has wanted to wear a military uniform and serve her country.

Brittain, a member of the University of Texas at Dallas basketball team, was happy competing in her sport and being a student-athlete. Still, after her freshman year at NAIA Sterling College in Kansas, she enlisted in the Army Reserves in the summer of 2001.

Brittain did so because she didn't want to have any regrets when she became older and looked back at her life.

"I knew if I didn't join then, I probably wouldn't ever do it,'' she said. "I didn't want to get out of school, get into a job and put it off. I had to do it then. I just jumped into it.''

Brittain is a part of a military police unit and she has become an expert marksman with both her M-16 rifle and her nine-millimeter pistol. She didn't begin her basic training until February 2002, and in the meantime she took classes at the University of Texas at Arlington, which is where she grew up.

When the war started, Brittain said her unit was the first branch of military police sent to Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. She remained there for the next 366 days.

"In the beginning, we had nothing,'' Brittain said. "We didn't have a tent for the first month and half. We slept under a little tin sheet. We called it a carport. We lived on a United Nations compound. Our missions were always into Iraq, but we would come back and sleep at the U.N. compound. We had cots. It was fine until the first time it rained.''

She was told that it hardly rained in the spring in the desert, but of course that wasn't the case the first time she was there.

"It just ruined everything,'' Brittain said. "Then the sand storms were always miserable, because we didn't have tent flap to stop anything. That's how it was in the beginning. Now the bases are being built up, and they are getting air conditioners for everybody. When we were there in mid-August, we didn't have any ice. My water would be boiling while we drove around. It's gotten better. If we go back, at least you know the standard of living is better.''

She also brought along a memento that reminded her of home: a basketball.

"I deflated it and put it in my duffel bag,'' Brittain said. "I pumped it back up after I got over there. There wasn't anywhere really to dribble for a while. The engineers built some courts. I just wanted to have it with me. I still have the ball. It was just the fact that I knew it was there.''

While in Iraq, Brittain's unit had many roles. They included being convoy escorts and basic security. They patrolled the main supply routes into the cities, making sure the roads were safe for equipment to pass through. She was also assigned to checkpoints and radio relay transmission sites.

She also worked as a driver when her unit was part of a convoy.

"Fortunately, I didn't have to fire my weapon during the war,'' Brittain said. "We did see quite a bit of stuff, but we were very lucky. We didn't lose a single person in my unit. We were blessed while we were over there.''

Brittain drove in convoys that came under fire, but it was hard to say exactly if her vehicle was the target.

"It's hard to explain,'' Brittain said. "When you have about 50 trucks you're trying to secure, you hear shots coming, but you don't necessarily know where to shoot back. There were civilians everywhere and sometimes shooting back is not the smart thing to do. It's hard to explain that aspect of what was happening over there.''

Brittain, who can still be re-deployed should the military see fit, was in good academic standing when her deployment ended. Instead of returning to Sterling College, she chose to resume her student-athlete life closer to home.

"Family is a big thing for me right now since I was so far away from them so long,'' Brittain said. "I'm 30 to 35 minutes away and my parents can come watch me play easily. That was a huge factor for me. I can't describe the way I felt the first day I stepped on the court at the school. The girls are great and have great attitudes. The school has courses I'm looking forward to taking. The history and education departments are very good here.''

A need for discipline

Paul Howard was living the life of a college football player, but it took four years of serving full-time in the Army for him to realize how special this time of his life can be.

Howard, a 24-year-old defensive end at Baylor University, began his collegiate career at Texas Tech University, where he ran into trouble balancing his time between academics and the rest of what the lifestyle had to offer.

So he packed his bags and changed directions after his redshirt freshman year to find more self-control.

"That decision at the time was because I wasn't taking care of my business in the classroom,'' Howard said. "Instead of going to a smaller school, getting my grades up and transferring back, I decided the Army would be the right thing for me.''

Howard's father and grandfather were military men who spent time in Vietnam. He also has uncles and aunts who also were in different branches of the armed services.

Howard was well aware of the obligation he was making should a conflict arise. When he signed his papers to officially join the Army in July 2000, he had no idea how much the world eventually would change.

"There hadn't been anything going on for a long time,'' Howard said. "I really didn't expect anything to happen, but you always have in the back of your mind that something like this could happen. As soon as September 11 happened, I pretty much knew I would be getting deployed somewhere.''

A day after the war started in March 2003, Howard arrived in northern Kuwait. He remained there until mid-December.

"I was in a forward movement control team,'' Howard said. "We can do a lot of different things. At first, we were assigned to do food distribution. We made sure all the troops got fed. After that, we started doing different jobs, and I was assigned to do security in convoys.

"I coordinated with military police so when people needed to go on a trip anywhere into Iraq, they contacted me and I would try to fit them into a schedule. We cut down on people going north, because there was a lot of trouble.''

While he wasn't in the infantry and away from the frontlines, he didn't feel too secure.

"I thought I would be far enough away from the action, but you're always in harm's way to a certain degree once you're over in that area,'' said Howard, who is leaning toward majoring in graphic arts. "We had a few Scud (missile) scares. There were sirens going off, and you had to put on your chemical equipment on and everything.''

Going through the experience made Howard appreciate the college lifestyle he had foregone. While he was in Iraq, a couple of former Texas Tech teammates, defensive lineman Aaron Hunt and quarter Kliff Kingsbury, were selected in the NFL draft.

"I thought about football a lot most of the four years I was in the Army,'' Howard said. "Aaron is from Denison (Texas) like I am, and he's a defensive end.''

Howard took classes at Graceland County Community College in his hometown, and he also contacted former Texas Tech assistant coach Larry Hoefer, who currently is on the Baylor staff, about the possibility of playing for the Bears. There was interest in Howard, and he did the work in the classroom to become eligible. Now, he has three years of college football in his future.

"I just figured I needed the maturity, and just being away from it made me realize just how much I missed being in the game as well as just being in school,'' Howard said. "I figure all I have to do is go to class and take care of my business. If I could be in war, being in a classroom will be a lot easier than that.''

A screeching halt

Even though Ken Karel had been in the Army Reserves since 1998, he was still caught off guard when he was told to report to active duty on the first day of the 2003 spring semester at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Karel, a defensive end for the Prairie Wolves, joined the reserves as a senior in high school and made a six-year commitment to the military. His motivation for signing up was to find a way to pay for his college education.

"My brother and sister were going to University of Nebraska at Omaha, and my parents were footing a lot of bills,'' Karel said. "I was going to Wesleyan, and it's not exactly cheap, so a lot of my decision was to help out with tuition.''

All the training and drilling became essential when he was called up that day on campus in Lincoln, Nebraska. Instead of reporting to his classes, he was ordered to his base camp in Columbus, Nebraska, by 8 a.m. the next day.

"I had just gotten down to school and was only here for a couple of days,'' Karel said. "Then I had to pack all my stuff again. It was a hassle to get my classes canceled when I left.''

By April 2003, Karel found himself in southern Iraq with numerous duties to accomplish. His main role was processing prisoners in and out of camps.

He also was part of an advance party that was assigned to set up living conditions for his military police unit.

When we first rolled in, it didn't look that great,'' Karel said. "There was just a big plot of sand. We got a few tents set up right away. They brought in some bulldozers and cleared off some sand, and we got more tents set up. The first week or so it wasn't that great. Once we got everything set up, it wasn't that bad. We still had people complaining too much.''

Karel also took turns riding in turrets and being a gunner for vehicles.

"You never knew what was going to happen,'' Karel said. "I never heard any shots at me. There were a few times we went out, and we would see improvised explosive devices on the road. You always wondered if someone would walk out in the middle of the highway and just blow themselves up. We heard stories about things like that happening.''

After dealing with situations revolving around his very existence, Karel was ready to go back and earn a business degree. He longed for the days of being a football player again and searching for a company where he can complete an internship.

However, he believes there is still a role in his life for military service.

"I'm thinking about re-enlisting,'' Karel said. "I always tell people I want to see where this unit is going to go. If they get deployed somewhere else, there are a lot of good people to over there with. There were rumors floating around that we might get sent to Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) within a year. But my unit had already gone to Kosovo around 2001 and 2002. We're thinking we might be safe from any deployments for four or five years.''

A linebacker and a gentleman

When Greg Washington, a football player at East Texas Baptist University, learned his engineering Army Reserves unit was called up, he was in the midst of helping his team to the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time.

Washington, the school's all-time leading tackler, was able to see the 2003 season to its conclusion after the Tigers were eliminated by Lycoming College in the quarterfinals. Had his school advanced to the final two rounds of the tournament, there was doubt whether he could complete the season.

Still, there was unfinished business for Washington when it came to his education. Because he had to report before the end of the fall semester, Washington faced the possibility of receiving incompletes on all his courses.

"He was extremely concerned about the loss of his academics,'' said East Texas Baptist coach Ralph Harris. "He asked if he could just hang around for a few more days to take finals, but (the Army) said it didn't work that way. The president and the vice-president of academic affairs worked with him to expedite the process so he could complete his work ahead of schedule. That was one of the positives of us getting knocked out of the playoffs. He was able to keep up and not lose that semester so he could stay on schedule to graduate.''

Washington, an accounting major, returned from his deployment in Kuwait and Iraq in June, but he wasn't done with his military commitment. That didn't end until the end of last month, so playing his senior season this fall was out of the question.

He can re-enroll at East Texas Baptist next semester and then finish his college playing career in 2005.

"Oh man, you don't know how badly I want to get back,'' Washington said. "I tried to work things out so I could play this season, because I wanted to get back so bad. There was some paperwork tie-ups. I needed this person to sign this and that person to sign something else. Then I had to go through debriefing. All this stuff is set up on bases, and they don't usually do one person at a time. They do it in groups of people. It makes it easier for the Army.''

Leaving in good standing academically has put his mind at ease.

"This is like me taking a year away from school,'' said Washington, who also is a husband and a father of two. "As long as I finished that semester before I left, I was good as far as what I was told. I'll still be in the reserves, but I don't have to drill anymore because my time is up.''

Washington grew up in Mexia, Texas, and he wasn't heavily recruited coming out of the football-crazed state. He eventually landed on the East Texas Baptist campus in Marshall, Texas, and also signed up in June 2001 for a stint in the reserves, figuring he would have a plan to fall back on in case college didn't go as planned.

Washington was initially a secretary in the Army before switching over to an engineering company that provided a greater challenge, he said.

While in the Middle East, he found himself sent as far north as Baghdad.

"We either tore stuff down or we smoothed it down to put up new things,'' Washington said. "We built fences and laid out areas for garages or anything that the Army needed. I was over there for six months.''

While he was overseas, Washington tried to stay in contact with everyone back home.

"He talked to numerous people across the campus at all levels, from the vice-president to as low as you can go, which is me,'' Harris said. "This school dropped football in 1950, so when it came back it was the first time in 50 years. A lot of those guys who played in the last couple of years when the program stopped were World War II and Korean War guys. We still have around 15 of them in our alumni group.

"They understand what Greg is all about. Many of them were family men, too, while they played and completed their degree. Many of them had been overseas and were older guys, so you got a mixture of a lot of different ages. It turns out that there is football at wartime again, so it's quite a correlation.''

Washington never thought he would be so close to the combat side of the war. He estimated he was as close as 30 miles from the action at times.

The camaraderie in his unit helped him through the dangerous times.

"I was with people I really liked being with,'' Washington said. "They took care of me and I took care of them.''

He said the mortars were a constant reminder about his mortality.

"Sometimes I couldn't go to sleep, because I was thinking 'Will this mortar hit me?' '' Washington said. "I remember one hit 100 feet from me one morning. I began thinking, 'One of those could hit my tent.' I thought I would be in places where they needed us to build things up. I didn't know I would be in places where mortars would be coming at us. They mortared 24/7. Anytime they could get one off, they did.''

He remembered one frightening sequence in particular.

"At one point, they got real brave and threw in 14 mortars at one time,'' Washington said. "And then they sent two rockets in at the last minute. All you can do is look for cover. The mortars are little bombs, and you really can't go out and find who did it until it's all over with. We're not infantry. We're engineers and couldn't do anything about it anyway. They trained us with the M-16s, but if you can't even see who's shooting off the mortars, then you can't use them.''

Now the only visions he wants to keep prominent in his mind involve chasing down ball carriers from his middle linebacker spot in the East Texas Baptist defense.

It's a family thing

Kareem Falcon, a softball player for Salisbury University, comes from a military background that includes her father Ismael, who made a career working in military intelligence.

It was no surprise to her family when she decided to enlist in the Army Reserves. The only head-turner was her decision to join the military police. Her decision in the summer of 2001 meant that if something unforeseen occurred, it would be likely that she would be called into active duty.

"My father didn't want me to be an MP at first because he kind of knew that we would be the first ones to go to the infantry and the Marines,'' said Falcon, who plays left field for Salisbury. "He is a big influence on my life. I always saw him in his uniform. The recruiters were always coming to my high school. I really wasn't interested then.''

After attending Anne Arundel Community College near Baltimore, Falcon decided to start a military career in the reserves. She learned that to be in an intelligence unit, she would have to train in California for a year and not be able to enroll at Salisbury where she had decided to continue her collegiate softball career.

"You start thinking of ways to make more money,'' Falcon said. "A recruiter approached me while I was in college, and I figured the reserves are only part-time. I knew I would only have to go away for four months to do my basic training and my job training. I figured it wouldn't interrupt school, and I might as well go ahead and do it. They pay for a good portion of my college education. I figured why not? I joined and then 9/11 happened.''

Falcon knew she eventually would be sent overseas where her job would be to guard prisoners of war.

Before she departed from Salisbury, which she helped reached the Division III finals in 2002, her teammates and coaches let her know that she would be foremost in their thoughts.

"We carried her uniform with us to every game,'' said Sea Gulls coach Margie Knight. "We hung it in the dugout. People would ask us if she died, and we had to tell them that she was in the armed services in Iraq. I know the last day she was at practice we all gave her something. We knew whatever we gave was going to have to be limited, because she could only take so much. It was just things that would remind her of funny moments or just of the person who gave it to her. She was real appreciative of the things everyone gave her. We put it all in a shoebox.''

Falcon found herself stationed at a prison camp located in the middle of the grounds of the Baghdad International Airport.

"It wasn't like the camps you probably saw on television,'' Falcon said. "None of these camps were indoors. We had an outdoor facility, which was pretty much tents and barbed wire. We pulled 12-hour shifts. I worked from 4 o'clock in the evening to 4 o'clock in the morning.''

Since most of the prisoners were male, there were cultural issues that had to be overcome.

"They really don't appreciate women over there as we do over here,'' Falcon said. "It took some time to get used to, but eventually they began to understand our ways.''

While in the military, Falcon has become extremely proficient with her weapons. She is an expert shooter with a nine-millimeter pistol and qualified as a sharpshooter with her M-16 rifle.

"This was my first time shooting,'' Falcon said. "You're out there every day practicing. So they kind of mold you into being a good shooter. I like adventurous stuff, so that's another reason why I joined. You get to do things that regular everyday people don't get to do. That was kind of exciting.''

When she returned from Iraq in November 2003, Falcon made sure she was on schedule academically. She's majoring in physical education/
teacher's education and is scheduled to graduate in May. She has plans to work on a master's degree in education after that, if the military doesn't come calling again.

"My friends say I'm the same person I was before I left,'' Falcon said.

The only difference is I'm a little more aware of my surroundings and the people around me. That's just because you're so used to being out there concentrating on little details. Usually I'm on time. The first day of class this year started at 9 o'clock, and I was there at 8:30. I was sitting there thinking, 'Where is everybody? Why isn't anybody here?' Then around 8:55 and 8:58 everybody starts rolling in, and the teacher shows up. It was like, 'Oh yeah, this is college.'''

One of the pitfalls to being a reservist is the possibility that your number will be called to go back overseas. That became a reality for Falcon three weeks ago when she received word that her military unit is going to be re-deployed to the Middle East.

The notification targeted October 2005 as the date for Falcon to return to duty overseas. If the orders come to their fruition, she'll have to put her civilian life on hold.

"It really hasn't hit me yet,'' Falcon said. "As it gets closer, it will be on my mind more. I will be graduating in May, and I was planning on going to graduate school, so this could affect those plans.''

Of course, the outcome of the presidential election next month could influence whether the orders are rescinded. So for now, she's trying to concentrate on finishing school and enjoying her final year of eligibility in softball.

The first time she was deployed, Falcon had about four months' notice before landing in Iraq. Since she's in the military police, her duties can include guarding prisoners again, providing security for convoys, working at checkpoints or being placed wherever the Army needs her unit to bridge a gap.