I’m not in the reserve or guard, but did have a pretty good undergrad degree that focused on organizational theory, system processes, and some other nerdy stuff. I appreciate that we have lots of guard/reserves at United. Not just because they have volunteered to be on the hook for the next (or current) military events.

The fact that reservists do have to take mil leave, and sometimes in a disruptive way for scheduling, means that the company has to account for that in staffing. I’d estimate that for every 2-5 guard/reserves, they’d have to hire an extra pilot to ensure coverage.

So in essence, because mil guys have to drop orders during high demand times, dozens if not hundreds of pilots at United would not have been hired. The company just wouldn’t have needed the bodies to cover that factor.

I ( or you) might not have the job if there weren’t guys dropping mil leave.

On top of that, sometimes when guys have to drop mil leave, it results in premium pay trips, or trips that get broken up allowing commuting reserves an easy way to finish their silo days.

If you think serving was such a great deal maybe you should have volunteered to serve or not bid reserve over the holidays.

As someone who likes a job, likes picking up premium pay, and enjoys the fact that we have those (including current United pilots) who are sitting in some awful places over The holidays this year trying to prevent the next American soil attack, I will just say thanks.