my earning potential will be limited and in addition to that I will be away for long periods of time.
First of all, these statements are true, sort of. As a service member you earn a salary just like anyone else in a full time job but you don't get to walk into the bosses office and say "I feel like I'm working harder than everyone else so I think I deserve a raise", as a LT you get what every other O3 in the military gets as a base salary, whether they're special forces, ship drivers, AF admin officers, or basketball handlers at the gym. There are special pays and bonuses etc, but your base pay is the same. However, you do get a raise when you promote, meet certain time gates, yearly COLA raises etc that civilians do not get and the job security is pretty good if you keep your nose clean.
You will be away for long periods of time. That's both a con and a pro. If you have a family and have to go to the desert, it sucks, but you may be flying operationally and dropping live ordnance which makes up for it a little bit. If you're single(or married) and get to visit places like Singapore, Perth, Naples, St. Maarten, Antigua, Hong Kong, Seychelles etc etc, it's a pretty fricken good time. If you don't like to travel, the Navy is not for you.
The Navy is like any other job, sometimes it sucks and you hate it. Other times it's awesome and you can't believe they actually pay you to do it.
As for being an NFO, it's a great gig and there's no shortage of promotion opportunities. My boss is a 3 star admiral who got his NFO wings in 1981. Lots of people say NFO's won't be needed in the future, there are also a lot of people that say pilots won't be needed either. The truth is, neither of us are going away anytime soon so why worry about what might happen 20 years from now, you've got plenty of time to get your wings and do something good.
As Flash said, there aren't many true NFO jobs in the civilian world, but you'll have plenty of leadership and management experience when you decide to get out. Our ground skills as military officers are also recognized by the corporate world.
In the end, you have to decide what is right for you and how much dissension from your family you are willing to endure. The top 3 priorities you listed are spot on, according to your profile, your application is in so good luck!