Alex, here are my thoughts about joining the armed forces...
1) I don´t know how they handle things in NL, but here in Canada, they expect you to sign up for a few years.
2) Look into the living arrangements that they will make for you and your wife.
3) You never know when your life will be in the hands of some random idiot above you.. Even in peace-time you are risking your life, like those 40 or so Chilean soldiers who died of hypothermia during a training exercise thanks to the moronic idiotic cretins in command.
4) I know you are strongly religious and being a marine can put you in conflict with ¨Thou shalt not kill.¨
With all that being said, I am considering signing up myself, but I will have to do a lot more research before I put my X on the piece of paper.