It's really quite simple, military vs. civilian. I'll just skip right over the selection process and quality of individual because that right there separates civilian vs. military. What else?

Military pilots have self-discipline. It was instilled into them, and they HAD to have it. Teamwork, too. Mission over self mentality. And don't even get me started on ability to cope with stress. Lives depended upon it...a heckava lot more than in civilian flying. Civilian briefings/de-briefings and flight planning vs. military isn't even worth comparing. It's night and day difference.

And training? A military pilot's training is 10x more valuable than the avg. training a civilian receives. Not even worth comparing.

All of this breeds a person (military aviation) that comes with a "street cred" that a civilian-only pilot doesn't have. That's not to say a civvy doesn't have the capabilities for these things or doesn't possess them already, but the employers KNOW the mil guys have it. No question.

And I say all that as someone who wasn't military. I'll say one other thing too...

If I can let a military guy/gal who served me and mine in line in front of me, I'm grateful for the opportunity to do something more than just say "thank you for your service" to them.


That damn fine man did more in service to our country than you will ever do with your's. You aren't even worth the belly-lint in his navel, and you just proved it with your DB's spew.