It is also cheaper to let pilots Palace Chase to the ANG/Reserves, pay them part time and activate them when you need them - all while cutting training and flight hours and making the ANG/Reserves more and more like AD with never ending bull$hit.
I jumped ship to the ANG after only 4 years of AD last year and I haven't looked back. I'm back home with family and friends, I live in a community where being in the military is not common, and I'm loving the ANG. My intentions were to do it part-time and get an airline job, but was hired as an ART and the commercial world doesn't look as attractive as it used to be. I'm making a 6 figure income, still get to fly a few times a week, go on a trip every so often and I'm home every night. Right now, there's not much else I can ask for. If I can stick it out for another 20 years or so in the civil service, it won't be a shabby retirement either and I'd still be young enough for another 15 years in the airlines if I wanted. I'm sure once these post 9/11 contracts are a thing of the past (we hope), pay scales are going to go up significantly.
If nothing changes in the projected commercial airline growth over the next 5-10 years, retention is going to suffer big time unless they stop-loss people. It's amazing how this sine wave goes back and forth every 10 years or so.