Desparado, if in all your years you have only spent a total of a year away, it may be a lot of tax, but it's not as much time as a lot of our people are being asked for. I changed branches because I was sick of spending about 7 months of the year away from home. Apart from the significant impact on my family and the likelihood of it leading to a breakdown of my marriage, it was also financially crippling! Allowances swing one way and then the other; the big allowances of old were being removed by my time and we swung to the point of sod all, such that it was routine to come back £100-200 out of pocket after a 16 day excursion. They have swung slightly back in some ways (at least the offer of 20 mins phonecalls is there, even if the phones aren't!), but other things have been sacrificed to pay for that (witness the penaltyu for being away for more than 28 days).
Please remember that there are plenty of people who are away for 5+ months of each year and it would appear that there are plenty of people who have spent more time away in 3 years that you have since you joined many years ago. Whilst the penalties of being OOA may not be that much of an issue for you, I can assure you that it is a significant reason for a lot of PVRs and requests for trade changes.