Dear God man, I can't believe you're even considering bailing at 18 years. I assume you're looking at the airlines, but let me tell you the grass is NOT greener on the outside! I always hear the active duty guys complain about missing holidays, birthdays, weekends, etc. That's luck of the draw. Guess what - at the airline, you'll pretty much be GUARANTEED to miss WAY more of those things for possibly many years to come. And that's IF you don't get furloughed.

Ask yourself why most reservists are taking as much mil leave as possible?