a mission. Mentally and with maturity perhaps, but never physically.

They assume that being older means that your body is better suited to develop more muscle mass, etc. I guess, and somehow that equates to an advantage with 2 years off from football. The problem is that the body has been breaking down from it's pre-mission state for 2 years! All of that that was lost has to be gained back. It's like reaching a mountain top, and then slowly tumbling down... only to have to climb the mountain again when you get back.

When you take that into consideration, there is ZERO, ZIP, NADA as far as advantage goes.

Even as a regular joe schmo I was much better off, physically speaking, before my mission then when I got done with my mission.

Anyone who speaks to it who hasn't experienced it first hand is just speaking from ignorance. That's not meant to be a slight to them, but you just don't understand something like that unless you've gone through it yourself as a 19 year old fresh out of HS and the house. People will try to compare going off to college for 2 years similar to a mission... NOT EVEN CLOSE. They have no idea what living conditions can be like in the rest of the world. Americans, by and large, are really spoiled... even the poor ones.