Big Zuck: Understood, and no problem. I guess I meant to make the point it is something worth considering, but ended up coming off a different way.BigZuck wrote:stt1- I didn't mean for it to be a big deal, I was kind of saying it offhand (and was making fun of myself by saying that I think it's ok to tell someone how to live their life one way but not another). But yeah, I do think it's kind of beyond TLS' collective expertise, whereas giving people advice on gap years and stuff doesn't seem as weird to me just based on how many here have done it. I think suggesting it is fine, and I know someone who has done just that and they seem to be ok. I think it was just the nature of "your family will be fine man" that for some reason struck me as odd. Like, how can we know that? I'm married (but no kids) and I guess maybe we would be fine and maybe it'd be worth it, I dunno, but I think it would really suck when I put myself in those shoes. Can't really imagine what it would be like if I also had kids.
But yeah, didn't mean to make it a big deal, sorry.
Pancakes1: If I had actually said "it's not a big deal", I would agree I would have had my head up my butt. If my post came off that way, then I really did not phrase things well, as I meant to present it as a serious sacrifice, but potentially not as serious in terms of objective time as might appear at first glance.
I do indeed have a good deal of experience in this sort of arrangement, but I am sure less than the OP with his military background, so it's not worth mentioning.