Now that you've "signed on the line", you can have the joy of experiencing "buyers remorse" ;D
I think I get what you were trying to get across in your original post. I also think you perhaps spent TOO much time analyzing the implications. You should have done what 99.9% of people who join the miltary do: Realize you get to shoot guns, blow shit up, AND get paid for it, and not think about tomorrow (other than planning the shack-party).....
Well, that's what I did.....
The reality is that the more you worry about things like that, the more likely they are going to happen. There ARE things that you can do to prevent stupid things from happening, but I have seen way too many near misses (and not so near misses), in the military and in the civilian world.
2 examples: My 3 yr old daughter was walking/running down the sidewalk at the sitter's house. She falls down and hits her head on the sidewalk. 2 days later has a seizure/blood clot/stroke. 2.5 hrs later they are performing emergency brain surgery. 10 days in a drug induced coma, hypothermic-state, paralyzed to reduce swelling, promote healing, prevent further injury. Much rehab, much hard work on her part. She is now 5 years old and runs around like nothing happened.
Second example: We were on a live fire (in Leopard tanks) when one of the tanks had a stoppage on the C6 machine-gun. There is a round in the chamber. Loader not 100% confident in unloading the weapon, commander takes over. THey wait about 10 minutes before carrying on. Sgt removes barrel to remove round, BOOOOM, casing goes through Sgt's chest (exit wound as well). He nearly dies, but was up and walking within a few weeks, and went overseas within 6 months (IIRC).
Shit happens. It happens in the military. It happens in the civvy world. Minimize the risks, protect your family and yourself with all the coverage available (SISIP, LTD (Long term disability), etc).
We all have to die one day. I just hope it isn't in a vehicle rollover in some ditch in some shit-hole on the other side of the world..... but if it happens, it happens.
One thing I will mention, as was touched on by George, was that there was a time (not so long ago) that the Machine didn't give a shit about the "damaged goods" that were coming out of our excursions to the Balkans, Somalia, Rwanda, etc (no offense intended to those that were injured or killed, but I don't think the Institution that is DND saw these pers as people, only as numbers at best, and inconveniences at worst.....). If a senior officer (Maj Henwood) was getting the gears, imagine what Pte Bloggins or Cpl Snrub had to deal with. Because of people like Maj Henwood getting involved in making things better for all injured soldiers, things improved greatly (the negative press must have effected someone's political career too much is the most likely answer, but whatever works....).
I would like to think that all will be well and good if I am crippled, maimed, or worse, while serving my country, part of me tells me that this isn't neccesarily so. It's not that the unit, or the base, or the CF wouldn't look after me or my family (I have seen a LOT of support from the unit's, bases, and mostly individual member's to look after member's of the "family"..... more so than if it were a factory, or a company, or a normal quote job unquote), its what happens after you are no longer part of the "family". Veteran's Affairs is (from what I have witnessed) just another bureaucratic cog in the machine. You become just a file folder wanting more of this (money), less of that (paperwork), etc, etc. I hear tell they refuse a certain percentage of claims "just because", in the hopes you'll back down and not appeal, so they save money. There's looking after the troops..... Nothing's too good for the troops, so that's what they'll get: NOTHING!!!
Anyway, far from wanting to bum you out just after signing-up, a little reality break on your existential jouirney might do you some good (or not). Just remember: the best trained JTF-Sniper-Ninja could have a 500lb "dumb" bomb land on him at H-Hr minus 1 minute, and the biggest clod in the world could survive 10 section-attacks armed only with the spoon from his KFS (knife/fork/spoon set). I'd put my money on the JTF dude, but you never know.......
Al