Afghanistan was a great place to fly, and leaving the military to fly as a contractor was great too. Shootdowns in Afghan were actually very rare. Iraq was worse, but that abated. I actually felt much safer doing that kind of flying than I ever did in GA in Australia. More mates have been killed flying in GA too.
Civil aviation is going to continue to be a tough gig, recession, war or boom. Salaries and conditions are not improving in real terms ever again, even if the market booms. If that's what you want to do, enjoy the good times but otherwise embrace the suck.