FREEFALL_Pilot,
I read that great post top to bottom and you are SO very right. Whatever happened to the old time when pilots were ex-military and got the respect they certainly earned through lot of education and experience?
I understand why some people don't want to go the military route (like myself) but all your points are valid. I believe the US military will give a pilot the absolute best start they could ask for and one that money cannot buy.
I qualified via physical and AFOQT test scores, but chickened before board over the whole Iraq thing...sometimes I still think about having gone through to see what might have happened. Then, I think about being home with my wife and son and it makes that guilt vanish.
GREAT POST! We need to see more of you.
Have a Good Day!