You answered yourself in another post -- SWA is great at saving money. If they hire age 40+ pilots then they spend a lot less time at the top of the seniority scale making the big bucks. I can't say I'm an authority figure on this but my guess is most civilians probably already have a job by the age of 40+ at some other airline and aren't applying at SWA -- not all, but most.

0 hours of 121 time could be a good thing. SWA probably has a way they like to fly and by having no previous 121 time they don't have to make guys unlearn bad habits they learned elsewhere.

As for wishing you could do it again and join the military, that is a very easy statement to make and a difficult one to live up to. Maybe you think you mean it, but the reality is the military has been ridden hard for the past 20 years and it has been anything but an easy lifestyle. I certainly wouldn't choose to join the military at age 22 so at age 40+ I'd have a chance to be hired by SWA.