Wow, that is a lot of advice! Thank you all for offering your experiences, I think I need to have a serious conversation with my girlfriend about what life in the RAF could mean for us. So far I've stuck with an optimistic view - I've obviously been sucked in by the bumf of the NEM - but it will be better to confront everything head on, rather than hope for the best.
In any case, leaving the RAF is 100% not an option, I'm not going back to an office job...