I was never asked at my interview about commuting versus moving. I might have been asked if I was *willing* to move ... a statement that could mean anything.
During indoc, our chief pilot came in and said, "We have no right to expect you to move for this job. We do, however, have a right to expect you to report to work on time. Whether you're coming from across the street or across the country, don't be late or you'll be in my office."
I thought that was a very reasonable statement.
For ther record, the commute vs. move debate comes down to time. Living in base will afford more time (relatively speaking) with the family than commuting, but if you live in BFE, the wife can't find a job, and all the family are hundreds of miles away, it may not be worth it. On the other hand, if you commute, you'll be around even less because of the lost time ... but the family may be a lot happier when you get home. Something every family needs to figure out for themselves.
For the record, I commute and I love it. I like where I live and I like my base, even though they are 900 miles apart. I've got a pretty good system worked out for the commute so I rarely have to worry too much about getting to and from work, and I am senior enough to be able to get fairly decent commuter schedules ... not perfect, but not too bad.
