I won't hold it against you (at least not too much!) for being Air Force! People used to ask me why I wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. My response was usually "It may be a perfectly good airplane, but the pilot was Air Force! You'd want to jump too!"
Sound advice on the tranny switch, but not in my budget anytime soon. My military retirement is actually part of my pay as a JROTC teacher, plus, my school district only gives us a 10 month contract. I lost about $18,000 a year by taking this job. I love it, and feel like I'm making a difference with these inner-city kids, but man, I wish the pay was better.