Originally Posted by
Planespotta
We are almost in the same position. From what I hear, Guard is good but the training takes years and you can fall behind people who are building seniority numbers at the 121 carriers. I'm not sure about the vision requirements, I think you can get PRK or whatever, I know my friend who flies F-18s had to get that done. But hey do what you will get the most happiness from. I think a lot of people buy into the conventional view that a successful aviation career is ending up in the left seat of an airliners or corporate jet. In the race to get there, they forget that they can have fun in this industry, too.
If you are employed at a regional, you will not "fall behind" on seniority because your seniority will accrue while you are gone.
If you are not employed by a regional I would still do the guard because that's the best resume bullet you can have. Don't be in too much of a hurry to rush out and build regional flight time...there are plenty of 10,000 - 15,000 hour regional pilots who never got called by a major. You would be better of with 1500 military hours than 15,000 regional hours