Welcome to the real military, I know it's a wake up call since you're in the AF. Lots of love, everyone knows the AF has best quality of life. The Army typically deploys for a year, the Navy six months. Marines, supposedly six months, my wife, as part of a MEU (ie on a ship, not deployed specifically to Afghanistan or Iraq) was extended to eight. The bonus upshot of that was a coastal tourist visit to Liberia, where you get mahlaria.
I hate to say it, but you aren't going to get a lot of love from a lot of us for a six month deployment. On the non-medicine side of the world, the Navy and Marine Corps have been pissed at the Air Force for their short deployments for years. It causes a lot of problems that we see, ie no continuity, they guy you talked to last month and brokered a deal is gone. Granted, on the medicine side it isn't as big a deal, but it still takes some time to figure out how the system works. The longer the deployment (to a point) the more useful the body, because they know how it works and don't have to be trained up.
