With regards to driving distances it is not that bad of a drive, I knew guys who lived on pensacola beach and they never had any complaints about the drive, but then again that was in A-pool in the summertime.
The only thing I would worry about is the bridge over to pensacola, if there is an accident or some other catastrophe you might be a few minutes late.
In my opinion I wished i had lived closer to pensacola beach area, the cab rides would have been a lot cheaper and besides, living near base is overated