Thanks for the responses all, and apologies to the one person who called me a troll for not responding in less than 24 hours on a weekend. (I guess I faked the whole email posted too?)

The FAA medical is a good idea. My USN medical DQ had to do with a years old leg injury, nothing that I assume would really affect the FAA exam, but good to get out of the way.

To be honest, I am leaning towards no on this, even though I think I will take the assessment. I just have too much going career/life wise to start over at square zero for this. If I were 23-24 again, that might be a different story.

I do respect the piloting profession a lot. As someone who has been successful in a different industry, the financial and professional uncertainty of the regionals are unbelievable to me, and why this program is so intriguing. Most fields realize that young talent needs to be nurtured, not treated like crap. Wall Street pays junior bankers $150k fresh out of college, even though they don't do much more than keep spreadsheets clean (seriously). However, they do this knowing that 10 years from now they will be looking to pick their management from those ranks. Longer, more defined career pipelines seem like they could have a place in aviation to attract top talent.