Fly6584,

You brought up a point of family life and being married in today's air force. I can't speak for the fighter community, but from the heavy side of the house it is not currently an easy lifestyle with a family. Depending on the MWS, you will deploy often. You will be gone on trips frequently in-between deployments. You will upgrade multiple times which require lengthy TDY's (depending on MWS). Airlift assest have been utilized at historic levels for the past 7 years and as long as the ground component footprint remains the same this will continue. That being said, the whole heavy paradigm may change by the time you're done with UPT. For that matter, the fighter paradigm may change between now and then. These matters are all out of your hands. Sometimes you bet on black and red and the number comes up green.

I think irregardless of which side of the coin you land on it's important to sit down with the wife and tell her that A) You're a military pilot B) You'll be gone, maybe a lot. Life will be an adventure for the next 10 years.

As a parting thought, it's great you are gathering some solid corporate knowledge on which to base your decisions on. Just be sure to quantify the source, check the expiration date and be able to see through some seriously jaded filters. TBone is dead on with his advice to go out there and be the heat. Don't let your IP's choose your fate, put yourself in charge of the future.