Well, my band director has officially made me hate tuba, and I know for a fact that I love my viola dearly...but becoming a professional is not going to happen (I will play this instrument because I have so much fun at doing it) so I got serious about quitting tuba and now I have about 7 months to pick an instrument I want to play in band.

At the moment the only two instruments I am considering is trumpet and bass trombone. I like the trombone and I have experience playing it in jazz band. I own a trumpet (technically I started trumpet before trombone) but I have never been serious about playing it but it fits into all kinds of music I like.

I plan on playing in an orchestra and I want to be able to make decent money off of the instrument (I know that skill usually equals getting hired but still) and thats it pretty much...

I'm a bit tired, night.

The trouble with trumpet is that the embouchure is not easy to get to a really good working state (sufficient for professional playing) and takes constant maintenance even when you've got it there ... which is why even many people who get to grade 8 still give up. Bass trombone is somewhat more forgiving, and, apart from the top levels of playing, minor deficiencies are not as cruelly exposed as in trumpet playing. It all rather depends on aptitude, physical characteristics and application whether someone has success in learning the trumpet; unfortunately, application alone will not guarantee results. This might be the case in all instruments, but seems to be more pronounced with the trumpet, in my experience.