A most clever strategy. If you wanted to double your chances, you could also protest against the President or Rumsfeld saying "Don't you dare send my sister's fiance to some cushy desk job. Just because he's 42 and I'm a liberal doesn't mean that he's not capable of taking the fight right to the front lines!" They'd be sure to give him a stateside desk job just to spite you.

On a less silly note, I hope all goes well. Deployment is rough no matter how risky the assignment is.