while a great place to start, the problem with the navy is that it is a crapshoot on whether or not your blood sweat and tears will get you anywhere after you do your 6 to 8yrs. it is this way to some extent on the outside, but the navy forces you to stay at a bad command or a bad situation where it would have been way better to leave. and the possibility of being sent to another REALLY BAD command always looms. good for 6 years, possibly good for more, but a real crapshoot with alot of "money"(14 more years of your life in hell) on the table that arguably isn't worth the risk. in the real world you can just leave.
I think even getting a job making 40 or 50k (and there are PLENTY of them out there) and working your way up is a better option than wasting 14 more years of your better years shooting craps at a table where the odds are stacked against you. So even if 80 to 100k isn't automatic in THE FIRST YEAR (although I think it is possible, especially with OT), don't let that be a big difference maker. the fact that you are making some good cash and are now master of your own destiny (if you can handle that) makes it the only option for many of us.
I think MARK's statements, while blistering, are right on the money, especially when concerning overall compensation (LDO vs Asst Ops Man). Hell, look at the lower end of the stick too, 20yr 1st class vs a guy who has been an NLO for 15 years, the NLO is probably pulling down 80-100k with good overtime fairly easily, and has been for 10 of those 15 years unless working at one of the very low paying plants. Anyway, I think these kids need that blistering, because the Navy sure is going to take thier best shot at bamboozaling them with statements like "your benefits are worth 80 to 100k a year alone, so stay in!", which is what they told me and is NOT true unless you use all those benies, and the Navy won't let you usually! Besides, quality of life, though to each his own, is going to be better for roughly 80% of people getting out, just a guess.
Today I look back on my Navy years as a real character and confidence booster "I made it thru that crap!!!". But there is NO WAY IN HELL I would stay at a place that treated me like about 50% of the officers and chiefs did in the Navy, not to mention the times you were treated like a pool of slave labor (officers included) for no good reason to be seen then or in hindsight today. No bitterness here, just the simple fact that officers and chiefs had no reason to treat you with respect, because you couldn't quit, so many of them did it! It's not a bitterness thing Biter, just a common sense thing. I wish I would have had the grand time you obvioulsly had in the Navy, but I didn't, and neither did most of us. I'm glad for what the Navy did for me, but I'm even more glad I'm not in it anymore!