Try to get a SAR tour before 2012! Read all the LASORS stuff, start ground school sooner rather than later(I too recommend Bristol GS) and when your option to leave comes up have an alternative to staying in (remeber there is a box to tick on your annual report that notes if you have your civi licences or not). As has already been stated, there's more to life than being in the mob, money is just one part of it. At the same time not everyone walks into a better paying job (ah yes I remeber the six grand paycut I took when I left, but I then few my ass off and added another 1000hrs to the log book in just two years). I'm now much better paid than I ever was in the mob, don't get sent to the Falklands/desert/other miserable places anymore. I don't get called into work at random times with no say in the matter and I actually have a life outside of work. It's not all roses but lay down the ground work to give your self the options when decision time arrives.
