Originally Posted by
Homeshopper
There is a way to go active while keeping you seniority going. Not sure how it works but have a few friends that are active duty and still have seniority ticking at the majors. I think it's a win win for every one.
Yes, it's easy. Hardest part is getting hired by a major while young enough to qualify for AD flight training. If you can do that, then you are totally protected with your civilian job while...
1) Undergoing initial military training.
2) Serving out any obligation incurred from #1
So that takes you to about 12 years. Then you get five years of voluntary mil leave, so you could do 17 years of AD before you had to return to save your job. But there are other types of duty and incurred obligations which would extend that, so there's a good chance you could find a way to get a 20-year AD retirement and then return to the airline with 20 years seniority.
The five year limit is grossly misunderstood...it only applies to truly voluntary military service which is not in support of war efforts. You'd have to try hard to find a military job which is both voluntary and has nothing to do with war efforts right now. I've been in the reserves for decades and have used exactly zero of my five-year limit.