Thank you all for your replies and your service to our country. I fully believe you when you say that war/combat will suck, and I don't want to deploy because it's "cool/novel". I simply don't want to miss doing my share as you all have done.
Even worse than just wanting to get in the fight, is watching your unit get ready to deploy while you'll still be in middle of training. Like you, at some point I'd like to deploy, otherwise I wouldn't be particularly good at the job I signed up for. Being down in the mud was one of the primary reason I decided to go the route I did and watching my unit getting ready to go into the thick of it, knowing I won't be going, sucks. Especially when the likelihood of another deployment with the current state of affairs is rapidly diminishing.
That being said, running around as a military aviator, even during peacetime certainly isn't a bad gig. I figure I'll try and enjoy it while it lasts, because eventually our time will come. Try to find a time in last century when we've gone more than around 20 years without some sort of a conflict. As others have mentioned, select based on what you want to fly. When that time comes, it's a lot better for the country to have you enthusiastic and kicking ass in whatever that is.
I try to be philosophical about it. In the rescue business it's a mixed bag, if we're out of a job, it's ultimately a good thing. For all I know, after I finish training I could never deploy, but what that also means is our planes aren't getting shot down and unlike now, the guys on the ground aren't getting seriously wounded or dying. That's a trade off I can live with.
