If you are keen to be a doctor I'd go with that. Go to uni, work hard, have a great time and then come out of it all with a job that pays really well... not to mention interesting.

I think if you really ask yourself some deep questions, you'll realise you don't want to go to Afghanistan or some far flung hellhole full of extremist nutters for no apparent reason.

You'd have the time of your life at uni. One of my friends is only a year or so away from being a doctor. He's got a great stress-free life, a nice girlfriend and a pretty decent future ahead of him where he won't be getting blown up. Make the most of your life mate.

It would be different if you were going to protect the country, but you have to ask yourself why we don't just put all our resources into beefing up domestic security rather than (supposedly) keeping it at bay far from home. How many British soldiers is Afghanistan going to take? And how many lives has it potentially saved? I'd bet the former would be the highest number by far.