I can't give you a definite answer on your vision question, but 20/200 is pretty bad. You can get a waiver for PRK (not Lasik). I'm sure someone can give you a more accurate answer.
For payscales, go here:
http://www.dod.mil/dfas/militarypay/...paytables.html
To explain how the pay scales work, you are given a basic pay, which varies with rank and time in service. For example, as an O-1 (2nd Lt) out of the commissioning source of your choice, you are making $2,416.20 a month basic pay. Everyone gets a standard 3-4% cost of living raise each year, but the big raises are when you make O-2 (1st Lt), which jumps it up to $3,170.10 because you are an O-2 with 2+ years in service. I'm not sure if you know how the rank structure works as an officer, but you start out as an O-1 (2nd Lt). Exactly two years later you make O-2 (1st Lt). Two years after that you will make O-3 (Capt) and then it usually takes 5-6 years after that to make O-4 (Major). O-1 through O-3 are gimmies. Making O-4+ gets more and more competitive as you increase rank. Your basic pay is taxed.
In addition to basic pay, you will be given "BAH" (Basic Housing Allowance) to cover most of the cost of housing and varies with the zip code of the base and your rank. For example, (
https://secureapp2.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/bah.html ), an O-1 stationed where I am would get $618 a month without dependents and $870 with dependents. This allowance is not taxed. If you live on base, you will not get this allowance. Most bases will let officers live on base only if they are married.
You will also get "BAS" (Basic Allowance for Sustenance), which is the same for all officer ranks at $187.49 a month. This is also not taxed.
As a pilot, you will get flight pay. It starts from the day you start undergraduate pilot training at $125 a month. It goes up to $156 a month at 2+ years of flying service and continues to go up the longer you fly. It gets pretty substantial at the 6 year point. This is taxed.
So lets say you're a single 2nd Lt who hasn't started pilot training yet and you're given $600 a month for BAH. You'd basically be making $3,203.69 a month or $38,444.28 a year. $9,452.28 of that a year is untaxed, so it's almost like making $43-44,000 a year in the "real world" because of the tax advantage. Of course you'll also have free health care and various other benefits the government spoils us with.
I've been in a bit over 3 years now and I'm bringing in $4,924.69 a month or $59,096.28 a year. This doesn't include the near $1,000 extra per month I get when I'm deployed to a combat zone (which I was 6 out of the last 8 months
). Between tax free pay, hazardous duty pay, family separation allowance, hardship pay and per diem, it's an extra $1,000 a month for me. The IRS thought I made $24,000 in 2005, when I actually made about $60,000.
I will say that the pay will beat any regional airline out there, but the lifestyle is apples to oranges and this is the time when I get on my soapbox. The Air Force is not a flying career and at times (most of the time), the Air Force does not take flying as serious as they should, in my opinion. There are too many other things in our daily lives as Air Force officers to focus on flying. When I'm not deployed, I'm lucky to fly once a week on a 5-6 hour training mission. When I am deployed, I fly 3-4 times a week (about 110 hours a month), but you pretty much spend 8 months out of the year getting to know the Middle East a lot more than you'd ever want. The rest of the time, I'm flying a desk, staring at a computer and answering phones all day like a secretary. It's definitely not what I thought it'd be. It's a bunch of bureaucracy and micromanagement at its finest.
I tell you this not to discourage you, but to give you the reality and not a recruiter's point of view. I don't want you getting into this thinking it'll be a stepping stone to the airlines, because you may be miserable for 10+ years. If you want the opportunity to fly commercially, I suggest the Air National Guard or Reserves. If you really want to do the active duty thing and make a 20 year career out of it, make sure you get all the info you can before signing the line.