<prompt> Human: Im about to go into my 4th year of pharmacy school, and I have an opportunity to join the Air Force and work as a pharmacist for them. Im trying to do an exhaustive analysis of each option, but I know so little about the military and solid info is hard to find, so I was hoping if I dump what Ive done so far here someone can help me notice things I might have missed or maybe offer some insights Im not smart or experienced enough to have on my own.So, option one is civilian life. Here I have the clearest picture: I graduate next year with 260k in student debt, which I can pay off in 10 years at 3kmonth. I have worked as a retail tech for years so Ive had conversations with a number of pharmacists about finances and I know exactly what take-home pay, etc. look like. I can basically expect that as far as retirement, if I meet the employer match until my loans are gone and max 401k after that, I will retire with 1,377,000 in my 401k at age 60, assuming a modest 6 return. If the 4 rule is still valid then, that gives me 55kyear in retirement. If I wait until 65, I can make it more like 1.9 million and then draw 76k instead.As for actual money I have, my take-home pay after taxes, 401k, and health insurance would be about 6700, leaving me a solid 3700 to live on after student loan payment, and more than that after the first decade when the loan is gone. This is a solid number, because I have seen the pay stubs with their permission of many new pharmacists and this is what it is. Raises pretty much never happen, or if they do its on the order of 1k per year, so Im not even considering it.Military is way trickier. First of all, I would qualify for public service loan forgiveness. That basically means capped student loan payments of under 1k for 10 years and then the loans are done. Second, I need to account for the fact that housing and utilities and a portion of food is taken care of tax free through either on base housing or BAH. So lets subtract 1300 from my monthly disposable income above to account for housing, and another 200 for the military food allowance, and now 2500 is the number to beat.The first years in military the pay isnt wonderful, but raises come way faster than in retail pharmacy and the pay chart is set in stone and freely available online. Ill just start at year for as an O-3 the rank I would enter as. Base pay is 5219 monthly. Its harder for me to figure out what this is after tax, but since a civilian pharmacist was taking home 66 after taxes, 401k, and health insurance, Ill go with 70 here since no 401k and cheaper insurance. That leaves me with 3600, or at least 2600 after loan payment. And raises keep coming. If I dont suck so bad that they let me go, by 10 years in Id be at least an O-4 with base pay of 6659. This leaves 4661 for me to spend, which doesnt look too bad at all. At this point as a civilian Id have an extra 3k from paying off my student loans though... Retirement in military is pretty nice too. If I went 25 years, my pension would be about 65k annually, which beats the 401k return from pharmacy working the same number of years. And thats assuming I never bothered to take advantage of the government employee retirement fund which i would.So anyway, after that wall of text it looks like military would minimize the amount of actual debt I ever have to pay back, but after the loans are gone translates to less money overall. However, it gives more money for earlier retirement. The other thing for me to consider is the security of the job. Retail pharmacy is dominated by meaningless bullshit metrics and needless stress that has nothing to do with your actual job. Im sure military has its share of that type of thing, but I would feel better being in a job where I would get arrested if I left as opposed to where I could get fired at the drop of a hat. Does anyone with experience in military finances have anything to offer? Im totally guessing how that all goes based on info I can find online, but it looks a but more attractive than the civilian route to me right now.  <response>: Have you considered working as a pharmacist as a Federal worker? I think working as a pharmacist for say at a Veterans Affairs hospital would qualify under PSLF see here - under Section 6. You can apply at USAjobs.gov for a number of open pharmacist positions. If this works, you could avoid the military route all together. Sure, the pay isnt as much as the private sector, but if you can get PSLF, you can also get all the Federal benefits too. Youll have to be willing and open to relocate as well. But once youre in the system, you can then apply to future open positions to a location your prefer and do a lateral transfer as you will have highest priority over other applicants. :Just note that resume requirements are different from the private sector. Follow the resume builder on USAjobs.gov and filling exactly what they want. Also, the interview process consists of performance based questions usually about 5 to 7 questions with 2 to 3 panelists. Good luck! 