Milan Dinga, with rocket-launcher action!

According to some estimates, more than 4,500 professional baseball players served in World War II. While players like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio are known for their military service in the 1940s, you don't hear much about modern players giving up parts of their careers to the armed forces. That makes someone like Milan Dinga a rare breed.

Dinga, one of the most successful athletes to come out of the United States Military Academy, was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in 2007 and made it to AAA Salt Lake City last year, the highest an Army alumnus has ever risen in baseball. The right-handed pitcher has battled shoulder problems in his professional career; a rotator-cuff injury shut him down for most of 2008.

But injuries aren't Dinga's problem now. The U.S. Army last year rescinded a program that allowed cadets to swap professional sports for military service, forcing Dinga and others to put athletic careers on hold for two-year military commitments. Teams have apparently been told the players' baseball time counts toward those two years, meaning some could be back soon.

I'm hoping Dinga's time passes safely and quickly, because the major leagues could certainly use a Milan Dinga. Strangely enough, Dinga is a slang term for the drug Ecstasy, and it's also a city in Pakistan.