I agree with TankerBob. If the guard is your goal, take the airline job, if you haven't even applied yet you will have plenty of time to work there and get experience before going to AMS/UPT. I was accepted for a guard slot last year for fiscal year 08, I thought about not taking my current job at a regional thinking I would be going to AMS this fall. Then things change and my slot is for 09 now due to manning issues. The point is the guard process can be long from acceptance to AMS/UPT in a lot of cases, and now I am very happy to have my job. Take the regional job and start applying to guard units as soon as possible to make sure you have no age issues. Then once you do go to UPT, you will have your seniority number while you are at training. Good luck with it!