Originally Posted by
MikeF16
If you want to be in the military, join the military. If you want to be an airline pilot then IMO you are going to be unhappy in the military and you should focus on civilian flying.
I would respectfully disagree. The two tracks CAN complement each other. Big Caveat though...you must be FULLY committed to the military mission and lifestyle for that period you expect to serve. You'll also need to at least attempt to manage your military assignments to obtain FW (and preferably ME) turbine PIC to set yourself up for the civilian side...this may hamper your military career progression, but sometimes you can't have your cake AND you ice cream and eat them both. There's absolutely nothing wrong with honorable service for a one term followed by greener pastures, or retiring at 20 as a terminal O-4.
You need to be doing the military for reasons other than just flight training and PIC time....but nothing says you can't have the right reasons and also be interested in an airline future.
Almost every military person has to plan a career transition at some point anyway. Very, very few make it to age 60+ in the military and they don't do it by flying airplanes.
Originally Posted by
MikeF16
BTW, USAF is by far your best bet if you decide to stick with the ends justifies the means approach. Very few rotary wing assignments and UAVs have their own career track now -- you should be safe from that line of work. Guard/reserve is even better than AD since you can have your cake and eat it too.
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