Originally Posted by
Loon
Talk about narrow-minded! Don't listen to this guy; everyone's situation is unique.
He might not be quite as narrow-minded as you think. I've seen it play out dozens of times with friends in both aviation and the military.
Either the spouse makes you quit, killing the dream or worse you end up divorced with kids in which case you're financially handcuffed to your current gig, and geographically constrained to the kids. Hard to take the paycut and sit reserve at LGA when the ex and kids are in SMF and need alimony and child support. Some of these guys just desperately want out of aviation but they can't even afford to re-train and start a new career. Chained to the left seat of a CRJ like an ancient galley slave...
Family is certainly the priority once you have one, but I wouldn't jump into that too early if you're a professional pilot. Trust me, it works better if you wait till a little later in your career. Flip side is if you wait too long, you might end up rich, lonely, and with a lot of free time on your hands.
I've been fortunate enough to not get caught up in this sort of mess, but I've certainly seen plenty of it. Definitely worth considering.