I would say, stay at school, study hard, join the military, fly the best, have fun, do every course that the military can offer, then leave after 10 years and take up an alternative career in one of the many areas the military will give you training. As far as commercial flying,it is boring as batsh*t, job scurity is non-existant and i doubt if we will see decent pay for the remainder of this decade, IMHO. I have done both, except i dodged every course the military offered in the attempt to get enough hours so that i could reach the "holy grail" of the airline job. I achieved that and am now LHS on the best Boeing has got to offer and wish i had taken my own advice. That way i could live where i want, work during the day, be home for birthdays, anniversaries, first days at school, xmas, etc. Wouldn't have to worry about who i let in the cockpit, the fact that nobody outside the west actually gives a toss about airline security, whether my airline will still exist next year, what i would do if i had to return home and find work.