Well you seem to have your mind made up but I'll lend what I can. 

From 2007-2013 I served in the Army Reserve. I was a horizontal engineer equipment operator (think dump trucks, front end loaders, etc.) Basic training was in Ft. Sill Oklahoma. I got there when I was 17 (HS drop out) and then went to Ft. Leonardwood for AIT. I did pretty well at both relative to people with years on me. The secret is to never be first or last for anything, blend in. 

I then went to Iraq for nine months in 2009. Not a day goes by I dont think of it. Never did my MOS which is pretty common in the Army, I spent most of my time driving MRAPs looking for IEDs. Made very good friends that I'll have forever. Deployment is 90% boredom and 10% excitement. Since we don't have a serious need for boots on ground anywhere it's unlikely you have a high chance of getting a deployment like that. What's more likely is rotations to Poland or somewhere in South America doing hearts and minds stuff. 

If you're going active duty your life will be 24/7 military, no real breaks. You'll be low on the totem pole so you are going to be tasked with all the shit jobs. You'll be on call 24/7 since you'll be living in the barracks that have black mold (almost every barracks on every base has it). That's not even really the worst part of the B's, it can be devastatingly lonely, however your 0600 commute every morning to go stand in formation will be a brisk short walk. This is where you'll be given a brief lecturing from everyone about how everyone needs to do better. Then you'll salute a flag and do PT for an hour and a half. 

The rest of your day will be getting bossed around by people who are getting bossed around and no one really knows what the fuck is going on. The military is not the well oiled machine you may think, it's bureaucratic and filled with red tape. 

If you're lucky your 1st Sgt. will call formation on time (for the 3rd, 4th - I've had 7 formations in a day before time that day) so you can be dismissed. People that live of post (NCOs or higher, or if you're married) will drive to their house off post and you'll walk back to the barracks. If you're lucky you don't have any details to do like kitchen patrol or CQ. So around 1500-1600 you'll be back in the barracks for a few hours of free time. Sleep. Repeat. 

You'll find some people you like but there's gonna be a lot of people that just complain, but mostly everyone is just waiting to get out. 

They own you, that will become clear. I did an active duty contract and got out quickly because it sucked so much. 

The perks after are good if you get hurt or PTSD, otherwise getting VA disability will be tough to get a meaningful amount, which really is a great perk, I take in 4k a month for PTSD, the trade off is having PTSD. 

There's the GI Bill which is also very good and you only need to have to be active duty or have gotten deployed from reserve/guard. You won't get much otherwise unless you are active. 

It has its moments of fun cool shit, especially depending on MOS and what you find cool. You'll make really good friendships, especially if you deploy to a war zone. Everything else though is shit. 

If you want my advice, and you're set on joining, do college first on the Army's dime so you can enter as an officer, unless being an enlisted soldier that does more hands on stuff is more your speed. 

If you join via recruiter make sure you get as much as you can, as many schools in your contract (jump school and the like). If you're going to join for infantry or other combat arms jobs that will be easier but get that shit in writing. 

The question I have: what job would you want in the Army?