Will you be flying in a guard/reserve unit, or active duty. If you're not going AD, then I would say being a handler is not a bad idea. I worked in the hub for a few years, and I can assure you that if you have any work ethic about you, any manager will be glad to have you and work with you. The Memphis hub is a strange beast (or at least it was in my day). Most people that do that work there have other stuff going on outside of Fedex. Mostly college students, but I worked beside doctors, aircraft mechanics and other pilots just to name a few. If you can make it work, and not get bad marks for missing work and poor job performance (a very low standard in MEM) then I say go for it. FDX does look highly on hiring from within. If you are going AD however, disregard everything I just said. There is no way you'll have any longevity anywhere.