Pros
Cameraderie and sense of service to the Country are major reasons why I served and continue to serve. Given everything that is going on with the economy I guess you could also add job-security to the list, but most people don't typically think about it that way. Some of the friendships that I have earned since being here will be friends for life, and I realize that many people in the service often choose to fight not so much because they agree with the government's policy as they do for the people next to them. I often took these relationships for granted until I started working outside in corporate America.
Cons
Constant deployments or training for deployments make work-life balance difficult to manage. The typical hours of work when not doing one of the two are reasonably manageable. The challenge is that since being in the Army, I can count on picking up and going somewhere every 18 months or so. When you are single it is exciting, but there are only so many times that one can stomach going to the desert, or Korea or the "field." Obviously staying in the Army is a personal choice, but I feel that there is more that could be done to make sure that everyone pulls their "fair share" of the grunt work.
