It's your life, but knowing how the hiring is these days, I wouldn't want to get locked down by an AGR job, if your end desire is to end up at the airlines. I'm an AGR currently, but I troughed as a younger guy in the 2006-2011 time frame (we're talking 2LT/1LT/junior O-3 troughing here). Trust me, I know the struggle.

The difference in pay and benefits between an ART and an AGR is indignant only when you look at it from a permanent career standpoint. No question about it, ART is active duty on the cheap. For O-4s and above, no contest. But, when viewed in the light of an honest desire to be a major airline pilot as the end game, the ART becomes the hands-down winner in my view. It removes a layer of uncertainty, for pretty much a negligible amount of money, if we're talking about 3 years versus foregoing a 15-20 year airline career.