I thought I would have a lot more time off after punching out. But here's the real math if you have to commute:
I'm new so I'm on reserve. Since hiring stopped, I'll be on reserve for a long, long time. I owe 18 days of reserve a month. Translation: It's like being gone Monday through Friday for the first 3 weeks of the month, then 3 days of the 4th week. Except I don't actually get weekends off. Seems a little different when I started looking at it from that perspective.
If you are driving distance to domicile, that's huge, but I have to commute on either end of each of my reserve blocks. I always have to go the day before. That kills a 1/2 of one of my days off for EACH BLOCK of reserve on my schedule. Sometimes I get home the evening of my last night of reserve, sometimes I don't and have to kill 1/2 of my first day off just to get home. So how many actual days do I have off a month? Depends, but I usually end up with 6-8 or so complete days off. Sounds like a regular job now, except I don't come home at night when I'm working, so I can't see my kids then. Right now, my kids are little, so I can at least see them on my random off days. When they are older and in school, being off during the middle of the week instead of the weekend makes that a big deal.
By the way, you won't necessarily have any say in the matter for your domicile. Depending on who hires you, you may not even have a domicile anywhere near you. So be careful counting on that to improve your lifestyle.
On missing b-days, anniversaries, etc. It will be a long, long time before you have the seniority to get choice days off. Don't count on being home for any of that. Vacation? Not much for a while. Certainly no summers or Christmases for years. Want to watch your kids open presents on Christmas while they are little and still believe in Santa? Odds are not that great in this job.
From what I can see, the promised land of working very few days for good money and getting some say in your schedule is WAY, WAY off. Just don't think the grass is too green on the other side. It will take years to get real green.