It's all parochial crap. Air Force and Navy guys feel threatened by the skill it takes to fly a helicopter, so they like to discriminate in favor of their butt buddies; makes them feel better. I've got 3,500 hours flying the B777 Freighter around the world, and those dudes would be happy to count that time, even though half of it was sound asleep on my back, and the rest mostly looking out the window. They give no credit to the hundreds of hours I spent in helicopters at tree top level under night vision goggles. If you can't hover, you're queer. BTW, this profession sucks. Go find something more stable, like becoming a carnie. Maybe you'll get to work the Tilt-A-Whirl.