Munkii,
2 bits of advice.
1. No matter how "right" it seems at the time, don't get married for a few years. Along with this is don't get anyone pregnant. Trust me on this, keep your hormones in check for a little while and you'll be much better off in the long run. Have fun, but don't lock yourself down before you have a chance to do a little window shopping, if you know what I mean. Divorce rates and incidents of spouses cheating on deployed husbands are very high among the junior enlisted ranks, so avoid the trouble years and wait a bit.
2. Don't spend your first bonus or cruise pay on a motorcycle. I grew up in San Diego, and every time the carrier sailed, the for-sale section of the paper was full of used motorcycles at super low prices. Most of them were only 6 months old, had minor but expensive damage because they'd all been tipped over once or twice, and they all were selling for about half of what they were purchased for just 6 months earlier because nobody wants to pay for a motorcycle they're not using while they're on the boat. It's one of the quickest way to throw away $5,000 between cruises. Get a cool used sports car or truck and amaze your friends with how much extra cash you have to spend because you didn't buy some overpriced new car and get married to some girl you got pregnant on the first date.
Yes, they're out there and they're looking for YOU. I knew this girl while I was in San Diego and her weekly routine involved heading down to the country bars near the harbor and have sex with young sailors, condoms optional. Ewwww. I wasted a day of my life hauling her down to the planned parenthood clinic when she thought she was pregnant, because the last 5 guys she'd slept with had all sailed the week prior.
Stay away from the "future co-workers" at tech school too... As an officer, few things are sadder to me to see two married E-2s, one pregnant, struggle to figure out what the hell happened to their life as they have no money and are stuck trying to decide whether to have the wife quit work to raise the baby and try to survive on an E-2's take home pay, or both stay in and have strangers raise their child while their careers are harshly limited due to the requirement to have joint spouse assignments. And when they both deploy at the same time and have to pawn their child off on someone else to raise for a year... That's just not cool. So stay away from the tech school dorm "opportunities" too. A creative person like yourself shouldn't restrict your life like that before you even get started. Save a few bucks and wait a bit before getting married, and your whole life will be easier, trust me.
