Originally Posted by
Qotsaautopilot
I will lead with, YES, jealousy is part of it.
That said I was lucky enough to get to the place I hope to retire but many of my 121 friends have not been lucky enough to get even a call for an interview while they keep plugging away in trenches making the majors billions while they make poverty wages for longer than a decade.
As far as military guys giving away acomfortable way of life- maybe all the military guys I know and have flown with have downplayed their sacrifice but most of them painted life in the military as pretty cush except for the time away from family on deployments (I agree, that is a huge sacrifice), but otherwise they never really had much to worry about. Then they come out with a lifetime pension, healthcare, and multiple employment offers. Pretty good for 20 years. Shiit my wife's grandmother still shops at a base commissary subsidized by my taxes and no one in her family has been in the military in decades.
I flew with a guy that was in the army as some sort of trigger puller and he said that basically 90% of all branches of the military are support staff. They never leave the base and are never in harms way. I just wish I found out all the perks before I was too old because I always viewed the military as similar to saving private Ryan. Modern military is not like that for 'most' is how it's been explained to me.
Don't employers get some tax incentive for hiring veterans too? That clouds the best candidate decision if you ask me. Very little of the military flying translates to 121. Not to say it can't be learned but you have thousands of guys already working in the system that can hit the ground running.
I can think of countless guys that would leap at the first class date they could get in this very competitive environment and we have a guy who has only applied to two carriers and then is asking how to delay accepting the job if they can. Maybe it wasn't meant to be but I sounded arrogant as many military guys have similar questions. I guess it's not their fault because they just don't know much about the airlines but that's kind of my point and it's just so competitive these days.
I'll quit whining now
I don't think you're whining. There's a lack of understanding and experience on both sides. Military guys don't know the industry and the industry doesn't know the military side. I went mil to a 121 regional and it was a relatively easy transition for me.
I can't speak for all airframes, but there's a vast difference between flying A to B on a jet with an FMS and excellent autopilot with MFD's and doing a 300AGL low-level route in formation hand-flying through an airdrop with flaps out on Night Vision Goggles.