"Don't the Air Force and the Navy and the Marines all take very young pilots with very little experience and put them behind the controls of..."

The arugument has been made before. The counter is that the military has much higher standards in screening and training pilots than Mesa PDP or even Flight Safety direct track. At ATP, you'll have a chance to get your CFI ratings and instruct for a time before you move on to the regionals. This is valuable experience that sets you apart from the 250 hour ab initio guy.

I just don't think you can compare a 250 hour military guy to a 250 hour ab initio civillian guy. Two different leagues.