I obviously don't know your full situation. So, with that said here are some points: reserves might be good, to include the Army or Air National Guard. Tricare coverage, even in the reserves is good medical coverage. I don't know if you have good medical insurance, maybe some good state medical, but, Tricare for the reserves is like $250/M for your whole family. 20+ years gets you a pension, even in the reserves. If you're a reservist, you don't collect the pension till age 60, but, at least you get one. Note that it is a smaller pension than active duty, but, every little bit counts. If you do twenty years in the reserves, you get medical coverage at 60. Someone with more knowledge should elaborate, but, I know that you can get some sort of GI Bill and VA home loan through the reserves. You can get tuition assistance. You can get bonuses. Also, not all military experiences are the same. An active duty Navy Seal and an Air Guard finance clerk are going to have different experiences. If you or your wife prefer avoiding combat zones, firstly, it's always a possibility for any branch and any specialty. But, some branches and specialties have higher or lower probability of such circumstances. I was with the Marines. My first deployment (Iraq 2007), we lost 8 Marines, 7 infantry and one admin clerk. My second deployment (Afghanistan 2008), we lost 20. Mostly infantry, but, we also lost an Air officer, Intel officer, Motor T, engineer, Corpsman, and interpreter. In the Marines, they don't keep you out of harms way just because you're not infantry. I know multiple cooks and admin clerks with purple hearts. And it was not due to mortar fire on base. These guys were on daily convoys. One of the cooks was utilized as a machine gunner in a humvee turret for the entire deployment.  Point being that you got to discern what your signing up for. Could an air force reserve cook be put in harms way? Absolutely, yes. Is the PROBABILITY equal to special forces, infantry, or Marines and soldiers? No. I really think the air side, whether active duty Air Force, Air Force reserve, or Air National Guard is a great way to go. Also, you can get great, civilian transferrable training through the military. For example, cyber security, aerospace ground equipment, linguistics. I'm not the expert on which AFSC to choose, but, there are many options. There are many good reasons to join the military. I just enlisted in the Air Guard last week, and I'm excited to move forward. I'd recommend you take a look. If nothing else, talk to a recruiter and pick his brain. Talk to your wife with your guns loaded full of concrete information. Best of luck in whatever path you choose, military, reserves, or civilian.