I just got to meet my 5 month old son for the first time - awesome. Maybe one day I could be at home for 1 of my older son's birthdays (missed 4 already and will be gone next year!).
Airborne Artist - in response to your question, I think that my US colleagues do have a much higher standard of living, despite the healthy exchange rate at the moment. They have the benefit of the Exchanges on base where they can buy goods tax free, not to mention the price of 'gas' which is about half the UK price. There taxes are also only around the 20% mark and no National Health payments, and their families all get free health treatment.
US officers also seem much more inclined to complete their service and reach their pension as it is a great deal. The biggest thing is that they get free health care for them and their families which is worth a lot.
As has already been mentioned it is hard to stay in touch while deployeds as the US system supplies subsidised mail and phonecalls. However to phone my wife back in the UK cost a small fortune as AT&T do not subsidise that. Also mail has to go from the UK out to the US before it is shipped to us which cost a lot. Pusser's LSA does not quite cover that!
