DD, what job is your DH looking to do in either army/airforce...there are some musterings in the RAAF that deploy, regularly.

Darwin is a fantastic place to live, if you don't mind the heat. The housing is just as hit&miss as it is anywhere else (have seen far smaller houses in worse condition in other places, some of the Darwin housing is gorgeous)! But the DHA there does not have a good reputation when maintenance issues arise - you can always get around that by contacting the DHA head office. These days you get remote locality travel & I think there is an extra allowance too. The RAAF tends to be more stable in terms of longer postings (lots of Army folk move year after year whereas you can expect a decent run of 3+ years in the RAAF) but there will be times, even without deployments when your DH will either be away (working on attachment, training or on exercise) and it's not always in your control when or for how long that is.