My two cents - it's a package deal. You only spend a portion of your time each week actually flying. The rest is queep. In the land of the sequester, in AF fighter aviation, we fly once or twice a week right now. The rest of the time you're not flying with the Army, Navy or USMC, you're a soldier, sailor or Marine. That's got to be part of the decision. If you know what airframe you want to fly, find a guard unit that flies it and rush that unit. That can be tough to get hired though. Active duty gives you options to compete, but most of us that had to work our butts off to compete for fighters were jealous of the Guard/Reserve dude who only had to pass each phase (not as easy as it sounds) to get his dream aircraft. I've loved living around the world on active duty, but not moving every three years would not have sucked.