I would love to hear anyone's experience being a single parent in the military, and how it may have changed upon leaving active duty.

I would get out! I got out with under 8 years and got a job working for the state supporting their network , PBX phone system, and computer systems and made over 70k a year with excellent benefits and defined benefit retirement until my back gave out and then I retired from there and now 2 surgeries later I'm working on my 3rd career. I don't regret it one bit. Whatever you do, don't sell out and take a job working for the competition down south (jobs like these are plentiful for guys like us) but it goes against our credo! Don't do it!