Here's another datapoint about the mil leave returnees: there were several official statements, I can't remember where now but I read them on Deltanet, that the mil leave list included folks who were not coming back and/or had passed their eligibility date. It was stated that the list would be purged. I remember this as I was interested in the list as it showed over 200 mil leave guys above me, and my USERRA reading said they had all passed the ability to return via the 5 years etc... I later heard on this forum that there had been extensions to the company policy etc.

In any case, sometime during the last year the company published via an official outlet that the mil leave list was being reduced/purged of known bogus names, and there were several months after that when I saw the numbers drop. Again, can't remember exactly when.

HOWEVER, I am sure from those official statements that NOT ALL of the reduction of the mil leave list is due to returning guys. I watched that list every month from 2007... they didn't all return. Here's how you get the correct data: look at the total pilots, and subtract those who have retired. The difference between what the number from the last hiring total was, and what it actually is (minus retirements) is by definition returning guys from mil leave.

I suspect it's NOT as big a factor as some folks on here keep making it out to be... as if all our stagnation and lack of hiring can suddenly be blamed on mil leave returnees that we just had NO IDEA were out there, after keeping a list of them for 11 years. WOW we just got totally blindsided there, so you can understand how some of those things that were said about hiring have been delayed...
disclosure: I'm a mil returnee, god bless them all etc., no disparagement intended here, just some vague data analysis.