From what RB said, I think it's the guy's girlfriend that's the problem. He wants to join, she's flipping out, he's asking if there's something he should do that will help assuage her concerns. My guess is he's afraid of losing her if she joins.
Given the higher-than-average divorce rate in the armed services, he's not wrong in that. With the number of people today who can't make a marriage work, having one person deployed for long periods and possibly in a combat zone is only going to make that worse.
I also agree he should not join if he's concerned about this, but I don't necessarily think he's cowardly. We're only getting RB's take of the situation, the guy didn't post himself.
If you take physics in college BTW you can get into the USN's nuke engineering stuff for subs and carriers. That's about as "safe" as you can get nowadays. Just have to worry about non-combat accidents for the most part. Of course, if you're joining to get the money for college, that path is obviously out.
I never joined for 2 simple reasons--1, I hate travel. Short distances, maybe go across the country for a week a year, but that's it. 2, I have a problem with authority.