I understand your point. Remember, I'm not talking about the smaller, everyday/every-tour decisions we make like your example above illuminates, but the broader, overarching concept of choosing a career based on how much family time you'll get. My main thesis was that using the family time metric in determining if you should/could be a "career military officer" (or what platform to fly / what geo-location to go to) doesn't make a lot of sense because you're inevitably going to disappoint.
And that's the point (or question, I suppose) that was being asked. I think there's an underlying assumption that yes, there will be a lot of time away from family since this is the military. However, I think he's trying to gauge what could play in down the road wrt his family. If he was trying to have absolute family time I'd hope he'd have thought of another career path.
I think Bunk's post was a good point of affecting his career and not just making a day to day decision since he didn't get 0-5.
Finally, I think your "career military officer" statement leads me to believe that you think that every pilot is going to stay in till retirement?? There's a big difference in the career military officer and the guy who wants to do his commitment, enjoy his flying, and hit the road. For that guy, I could see family playing a huge difference in decision making, since that guy isn't going to have to deal with some of the decisions several years down the road that the career guy would.
I have no clue about the guy who asked the question, but I can use myself as an example, since including my prior time plus my time required after winging, I'll be at almost 15 years, but the dude straight from college only has 9-10 years after all is said and done. So, those decisions could be very different comparing the two.
So yes, I still say that it's a very valid question regarding family.
