Fly for beer
In a word "yes!' You did well at UPT and was assigned a fighter,an A-10, I presume...there are lots of 135 drivers who would give their "left one" to sit in a Hog....a seat you worked damn hard to earn and deserved due to your greater skill and aptitude. Now, pretend one day your commander tells you He wants you to fly alot more, do 5 deployments to the sand-box a year, and by the way lower your rank/pay one grade lower! He tells you if you don't like it theres 1500 "135/C-130/C-17 pilots out there willing to fly your A-10...does this sound fair? We all worked hard to get to where we are, and in a few short years due to 19 Al Qiada scumbags, and alot of our fellow pilots who will "Fly for food" our profession is being eroded and marginalized. I'm from Jersey and my neighbor was so proud how she bought a ticket on crappy Spirit Airlines from Atlantic City to Florida for $59!!!!! How the Fu#@ can an airline make money selling a ticket for $59?? I could'nt drive further than Virginia for $59 worth of gas!!
Alot of these pilots secretly seem to resent the pilots from Delta, United, AA (legacies) for some reason they group them together and label them "dinosaurs, greedy, old, out of touch" all I know is the bar is being constantly lowered by all of us who take any flying job irregardless of pay and benefits. Soon "Virgin America" will hit the scene, flying A-320's and paying commuter salaries...and maybe we'll hear Some of these Jet Blue guys or even Spirit pilots bitchin about how they'll have to take pay-cuts to compete with Virgin! meanwhile management and all the lawyers and bean-counters are making the big bucks and laughing to the bank
Just my opinion,
Good Luck, and thanks for your service to our nation