[77newell]

I'm pretty sure that Alie and I will never full time. This is due to our need for regular friends and our limited skills at forming new friendships quickly. On the road this can make our social interactions largely between the two of us and that has its limits. I would not be surprised if career military couples have either self -selected to be good at dealing with the temporary friendships or have learned some skills that we have so far missed.

Another aspect to consider is to think of life as an ongoing experiment. All you have to decide is to try full timing, it is not necessary to consider the decision to full time irreversible. You decide to try it, you see how it works, you adjust based upon what you've learned and decide what to try next; more full timing or some other arrangement. We not only learn about the world from our experiences, we also learn about ourselves.

If the idea of full timing piques your interest, you've done the research and talked the experts (those that are doing it) and are still intrigued then the big question is what is stopping you. Just like with marriage, the only way to know that it will last is to have one that lasts. And just like marriage, full timing will be filled with surprises. Not all of them are pleasant, but you are still married.

You know, sometimes us guys just think way too much. The future contains a vast array of influential unknowables, all we can do is decide to place reasonable bets of our time and resources we are comfortable with and then go live it to see how it pays off.