"... and air force would be the most stable. Once my daughter is old enough, I would love to serve in the Armoured regiments, but I have years to go before that becomes a reality. Does anyone have any comments that may give me a little more insight on what my best option may be?"
- Well, the Air Force does not have Armoured Regiments. I have been armour for 29 1/2 years, and my advice would be to seriously consider whether you want to be away from your daughter three to nine months of the year in the field, taking a course, teaching a course, or deployed on tour.
You should consider the Reserves, where you can pick and choose your time away and courses. If you go Regular and your family situation becomes an administrative burden, you will not receive much sympathy from some of your peers, who have to carry the can for you. Career progression is based on a lot of things, but two under-stated ones are Postability and Deployability. If you can't compete, you will be bypassed - and that is as it should be.
"My best advice would be for your friend to figure out which is a priority for herself. If joining is, then join and worry about the baby later....there are many years in the future for her to have a baby, don't let reproducing get in the way of a dream. I waited until I was done having kids before applying, but I really wish I had done so sooner, rather than later."
- Good, sound advice. In fact, it could go both ways. I would say, don't let the dream get in the way of 'reproducing'. The family is the priority - the job is merely how you feed it. Who knows? A few centuries from now, historians may conclude that the decline and fall of Western Civilization (that is to say, civilization) was due to too many women working and not enough producing enough babies (future soldiers).
Young women having children may be doing more for the long term defence of Canada than a lot of people in uniform are at the moment.
Tom