Originally Posted by
PRS Guitars
I think the OP wants to keep his kids in the same high school, which I agree with. So he needs to commute. IIRC OP, you live in OK, don't be afraid of the commute. You probably have some military friends telling you to avoid it at all costs, but it isn't a big deal, and if you are willing to move after your kids graduate, there will be light at the end of the tunnel. I commuted to 2 jobs for 4 years, the family and I did fine. There were rough spots for sure, but looking back, we are very glad we made that choice. You have a lot of options from OKC.
If your wife is on the fence...you need to paint the picture for her. Like Sliceback said, you probably need to get the job to understand these factors. You need to come to terms with leaving your comfort zone (and your family as well). Discomfort now equals payoff in the future.
Notice I said, "If I had to do it over again"; the point being that I went through exactly what the OP is considering and having to make the decision again would choose a different path despite it working out just fine.
You make a good point and I should explain my position better; my statement that by living in base my QOL would not have been significantly different than working the sim job and being home every night. I think it is safe to say that choosing to commute will put a person on the road a minimum of 50% of the time, while junior significantly more.
To your point if I had to make the decision again being anchored somewhere and having to commute, I would still choose the airline route. The lost seniority and money wouldn't be worth the few years of gained QOL through the sim job for a few years.