Thanks, Dad. I still paid for all my flight licenses and have 38k in loans to repay. So, before you go off and say that I was handed everything I have to my credit, trade places with me.

Since you were never in the military, let me shed some light on the college tuition thing for you. First, it isn't like there is an endless pot of money that is available for one to go to school on. We are capped per fiscal on how much we have available. When i left, it was about 4800, about the size of most students grant for a year of college. The schools on base know EXACTLY how much you are getting and adjust their rates accordingly. And, guess what, if you come up short on tuition assistance, YOU have to pay the difference. Some choose a program called Top-Up where they allow soliders to use their Gi bill to cover the difference, but, if there is excess, guess who gets it...that's right THE SCHOOL. It isn't free, it isn't easy.

Further more, the life of a military pilot is anything but Top Gun glamorous. We spend WAY more time away from home, have duties that do not even involve flying that will take up most of our time, and, if you figure the difference in pay, make less per hour than your average second year FO.

Hell, if I decide to, heading to the airlines would be a break from the grind I have been enduring for the past ten years. However, I do understand that I will have to make the difference up somehow. Which is why I am paying OUT OF POCKET for my M.S., so I can teach college on-line while I am either at the hotel or sitting in the crew lounge on reserve.

Thanks for your support of the troops. Put another yellow magnet on your trunk for me.