In aviation we have a vocabulary problem: we call a CPL a "fATPL", we call pay to work "pay to fly", and "pay to fly" is even supposed to mean "line training", we call a turbofan a "jet", we call a pilot licence an education sometimes, we call our education and the job we will most likely get a back up plan...
Of course you may understand that the back up plan is in reality the pilot job/training, back up plan in case of you get lucky.
A "back up plan" because of medical loss is a wrong good idea. What may happen is that instead of getting your "back up plan" for free or almost due to your work experience and your medical insurance, you will pay an education that won't be up to date the day you lose your medical (15 years later?) and won't be able to network the same as if you did your master degree just before looking for a job in the same field.
Advice: get an education for the good reasons (loss of medical situation theory is not necessarily a good one), and don't call it your back up plan, as for most of the candidate in Europe it is their option A in the real life.
If you fly for an airline in the US, you may qualify to carry a gun which I think is cool
You may want to fly in PNG and indonesia for some time if you really think guns are cool. You will have to fight with the passengers for them not to bring their gun in the airplane when flying in the jungle/mountain area. Cool? If this is the only thing that remains cool from this career in 2011, carrying a gun, become a policeman, you will avoid so much hassle for so little result.
MU2 pilot:
I have wanted to be a pilot all my life
This is not a good reason to become pilot, otherwise half the planet should be occupied by pilots. "all your life": well you are at the begining of it, and I hope you will have more expectation from your life before you die than becoming an airline pilot in the 21rst century, the most expensive way to get an unstable unintellectual and everyday less interesting/challenging position.