Aloha! I have been in the air force for 6 years now, I feel like my work and schedule suck, but I don't know anything else. I work in a passenger terminal and I work 5 days a week. Wake up at 3 get to work at 4 and work 12 hours or more. I have a full ride through asu with the gi bill, so I would have no debt at all. Is it really as bad as they say it is? Will I be living in a shack surviving off ramen noodles? Perusing these forums is really discouraging!
That depends on what "it" is. Do you mean commercial flying?
Obviously the answer to that depends completely on what type of job and at which rung on the experience ladder.
That being said, despite how much things may 'suck' in Big Blue, we are (were) all actually living in a big protective bubble. Free health care, decent pay and housing, and knowing when/where your next paycheck was coming from. The grass is not always greener outside.
The opinions you read on JC, especially, tend to reflect the experiences of folks who are pretty early in their professional pilot careers (first 10 years, give or take). Those are the hardest years overall in most aspects; finding a job, quality of life, pay and benefits, commuting, etc.
The short-sighted won't be able to see past that to the better days that can be beyond that. There's never complete stability with a flying career, but it IS better once you get to a certain level. It also has a lot to do with your own attitude as well, and what ultimately makes you happy. People who are looking to a job to complete them are never going to find it.
With respect to Commissioning, just remember that there are droves of unhappy USAF pilots who are waiting for the economy to change a bit so they can cut bait and run. That could/should be an indicator of what life is like there, too, although the same caveat about attitude applies. My career has spanned a great number of major upsets and let-downs, and I'm still chugging away and enjoying it (now in a non-flying capacity).