Hello.
I'm a Career Enlisted Aviator (CEA) in the Air Force and I fly onboard a Command&Control and Intelligence platform. I've been doing it for three years now (in the AF over 4 now) and I work extensively with military officers; our crews consist primarily of officers. I work with intelligence officers, pilots, navigators, and controllers in both the Army and Air Force. I'm actually good friends with many of them despite the fraternization rules. In various exercises and real-world assignments, I've worked with Navy and Marine officers as well.
I've witnessed the politics military officers must navigate in their professional lives and I've had multiple candid conversations with them involving their career choice and life-style.
I'll say this much: Once you get in, you're going to expected to stay. Joining the military as an officer is much different than joining as enlisted. Most people think of the military from the traditional enlisted person's point of view where you join, do your part in "fighting for your country," then go back to the proverbial farm. The military likes a bulk of their enlisted force young, energetic, and mallable--mallable enough to convince to charge the hill. Not to mention, the max enlisted term is 6-years straight up--unless the stop-loss hammer falls on your head.
For officers it's different. Your training is going to take up more time and your active service time will be longer. For example, pilots have a minimum committment of 10 years. Regardless of the time of service on your contract, you're expected to come in and at least do your twenty years. These days you'll need to get an advanced degree to get anywhere past 0-3, but they encourage their young officers to finish their advanced degrees through online programs--at least in the Air Force. In the Army, I heard there is a program where they allow officers to leave for a few years to pursue a masters degree, but then of course you're even more in debt to them once you've completed your degree. The bottom-line is this, if you enter the service as an officer planning to separate as soon as you can, your going to be looked down upon. I know a Captain who is about to separate and he's been lectured multiple times by superior officers and even fellow peers about how big of a mistake he's making, how he's not patriotic, and how he's turning his back on them, etc, etc.
That being said, I do have to say that although he's dealing with negativity, he's already got two competing job offers lined-up (in this economy!) and will be skipping up a few tax-brackets once the bank-roll starts accumulating so I guess he'll get the last laugh.
If you do decide to join, be prepared for anything. Join with a passive mind-set. Also, if you don't change your mind and do stick to your plan to separate and attend Wharton, don't let anyone know until it comes down to the final wire. That's just a little military office-politics strategy people frequently use.
A couple more things:
If you decide to join through OTS or OCS (depends on the branch you join), be prepared to wait for a long time before you actually ship off to boot camp. I've heard of guys who wind waiting up to two-years before they finally started their programs. I know of one for certain.
Lastly, I want to end on a positve note on this subject. Everyone else is right, military officers do gain a wealth of leadership experience. For example, if you joined the Air Force as an aircraft maintenance officer you would show up the first day expected to manage hundreds of airmen, multiple multi-million-dollar Aircraft, and the millions of dollars that are spent on spare parts and tools. That is a lot of "growing up" to do, especially for guys in our age range (22-24) who are fresh out of the academy or ROTC. I'm actually on a deployment right now and my Aircraft Commander is a 26-year-old Captain (0-3). I've known this guy since he was an 0-1 three years ago and I've seen him mature 15 years in that short time period; very impressive. Another positive note about military experience and where it can take you... There was this intelligence officer in my squadron who wound up getting accepted into Harvard Law. Surprisingly, he got the whole negative reactions from his co-workers when he decided to leave, but. . . he got into Harvard. . . not a hard choice there.
In your case, for anyone that knows anything about business and finance, getting accepted into Wharton is pretty much as good as getting into Harvard so you'll definitely find yourself getting the last laugh.
Well, my friend. I wrote quite a bit there. I hope you found it helpful. Best of luck to you and your endeavors! Now go forth and conquer! ;)
Take care.