Well, here's my take on it....
It's all gonna depend on whether or not your entire aspiration is based on becoming a professional civilian pilot as the end game or not. As it is, you are late to the game age-wise, so that limits your choices in this matter, but ultimately it comes down to what is it that you're ultimately after.
If you don't care for a professional pilot career as a civilian, save yourself the headache and just take the UAS gig. BUT, if this is all one big money grab to position yourself economically to get to a professional pilot career, then run away as fast as you can from that devil's money the USAF is offering you. It's not worth it.
This idea you're going to be stationed at Creech is putting the cart way before the horse. You don't know that. You are very likely to be stationed in real gems like Cannon or Holloman these days. You won't make 90k either. O-4 money with BAH with dependents gets you net pay close to that around year 5. That's a year into your Capt promotion. That's year 5 of 6 years the commitment entails. Try that for size, for your entire UAS commitment. That's not Vegas my friend, that's Clovis NM or Alamogordo NM for 6 years, which is my understanding is the current ADSC for for 18X AFSC coded guys, vice the 10 yrs after wings that usually befalls 11X (pilots) types who get sent to rot in UAV land.
You also underestimate the reason for the plus-up in UAS accessions. People are leaving that community in droves. QOL is rough, the way they set up the shift work. Burnout abounds. Our congress critters have determined that the QOL of people who signed on the dotted line isn't important enough to consider, so instead of setting up the duty stations across the globe so that everyone in that god forsaken community can have the perk of banker's hours and desirable family-friendly locations for the one job that can be physically done from anywhere, nah everybody gets sent instead to chit-ass rural New Mexico to run 24 hour ops. Well, you do the math, turnover is high. So, who cares if you can make six figures sitting in a shipping container for 12 hours, is it any different than being in an engineering cubicle doing something for six figures you absolutely hate? Consider these things before you get all comfortable with that proposition.
I'm what they call a Guard/Reserve baby; I've been a part-timer, trougher/bum, and full-timer in the AFRC and let me tell you, that TR position they might offer you in the tanker is worth the paycut, if flying is what you ultimately want to do. You want to do your turbine time build up in the military, where they pay you a living wage. My trougher/bumming paycheck was better and had better hours than a full up assistant professorship tenure-track at a technical public university in the southeast. I literally opted to keep a part-time job to pay the bills because it paid better, had better retirement and medical and provided me with experience that opted me for six figure income work, than a civilian full time job. It's almost pathetic to have to bring it up.
You don't want to do that time building via the regionals AND at a deferred start now in your 30s post AD Air Force, where they now force you to develop an entire career you don't want in the first place just to save money so that you can afford to starve in your 30s while building turbine time to apply to the same job your military peer will be applying to with better credentials than you with less total time. No offense to the regional guys, but the game is chess, it ain't checkers. Take what you can, to get where you need to.
The regAF will get their pound of flesh out of you and you will figure out in due time if you have the real desire to do 20 active duty years. Recognize also that they are going through tough fiscal times and boot people out all the time, so just because you think you want to stay for 20 doesn't mean it's in the bag.
Good luck to you whatever you do, I highly recommend pursuing the Guard/Reserve angle and against taking the UAS bait and switch devil's money. You're out of time, indeed, you should have started this process in your early 20s, but that's water under the bridge. If the Guard/Reserves can put you in UPT prior to 30th birthday, pursue that first. I have android phones full of people ringing off my number asking about the Guard/Reserves and why they kick themselves for not doing their homework in their early 20s. I don't know a single Reserve baby who wakes up every day and kicks himself for giving up the opportunity of getting paid that government cheese O money in Active Duty. This is not a rumor, this is the very environment where I make a daily living. All these folks on here telling you to go UAV because "it's the future" would literally trample over your bludgeoned corpse without hesitation to take the opportunity at military flight training in the Reserves you'd be willing to leave on the table. The UAS demand will normalize in time, and so will the wages. Then, it'll be just another drone-job that pays OK, pun very much intended.
This is one hand you probably want to go all in brother. There's other ways to make 90K in life if you miss. There's no do-overs once the door below closes....
https://vimeo.com/103557889
