I would recommend the military to almost anyone. Joining the Army was the second best decision I ever made. I was in a VERY similar situation as yourself Eric. 20, working at Best Buy, lived in the same town my whole life, and felt like a major change was what I needed to get out of the rut and move on with the rest of my life.
Just be sure to take everything so see, hear, and read about it with a grain of salt. It is what YOU make of it. There is a lot of sensationalizing out there and military life is FAR from as glorious as it seems from the outside.
With that said, I would recommend it as long as you are joining for the right reasons, it sounds like you are, and you can enter with realistic expectations.
If you wait a few more weeks to decide Texas Cop will be on Christmas break and I am sure he will tel us all about his experiences thus far.
If you have any specific questions, shoot me a PM, I will give you my number and we can talk about it. :thumbsup: