Hacker,
I will tell you why it's different, at least for me, and agree to disagree with you on some levels. When you shut the aircraft door on a plane for FedEx, UPS, SWA, or any other airline you go home and you don't think about work, you dont think about your next deployment, you're not management, you're not anything, you're just a bus driver. That appeals to me right now. I want to spend time with my family and friends and do the things that I haven't gotten to do in the past 10 years when I'm not working. I know I will spend time away, and thats fine, but 3-4 day chunks or even 7 day chunks is better than 6 months at a crack.
As for the retirement? Sure it's nice, but if people in our year groups with our backgrounds(I'm not saying the airlines are the only option for guys like us, b/c they certainly aren't) are relying on the military pension for QOL when they are 60, then they have done something grossly wrong with their money. Is it a nice offset for the first few years? Sure, but history and math has proven that if you make the break at your MSR or DOS or whatever the AF calls it, the money works out about the same. This isn't about money for me at all, its purely a QOL decision. I don't need to be rich to have a good QOL, esp if I have been smart with my money to this point. If I was in the AF where they do care about people to some extent, I might agree with you.
Pitts, you are a Hornet guy! I haven't met one former turkey driver who doesn't like the Rhino in the end. Different debate for sure.