No contest...punch as soon as you get hired. It's only 2.5% of base pay per year all the while giving up hundreds/thousands of seniority numbers and the pay that goes along with them.. That's a small amount compared to the $$ you can make at a major. As a point of reference I'm a retired O4 on 2nd year pay at a major. Between O4 retirement pay, airline pay, 16% company retirement pay, and per diem/add pay I made $16,000+ in December. Could not even come close to that as an O5 or O6. Maybe as an O7. And all for a job that is 1,000% easier than my O4 job was.

$.02.

Cheers,

HT