Thunder, for the one guy in your story who was hired by DL without being current, I can name literally a dozen that I know personally who are also non-current with excellent resumes who weren't hired by a major without a trip somewhere -- overseas contractors, regionals, etc -- to get current and recent.

Don't get me wrong, he has a great resume. The smart man, however, doesn't make a plan based on outliers -- whomever does is bound to be disappointed when they aren't one of them.

Instead, plan to fight Su-30s shooting AA-10C/D in an EA environment, and be pleasantly surprised when they're new nuggets flying Galebs shooting AA-2s.