Foley and the surrounding area is a very cheap place to live. You would do just fine on $36k/year. The student load is steady and nearly guaranteed. The IFS program has been in place for 12 years now and seems to be a good investment for the Navy.

You will likely only be teaching students for their first 25-30 hrs of flight time, you won't have to prepare them for a checkride, and no, you probably won't make any good contacts. You may meet some drinking buddies, but that's about it.