Adlerdriver

I have to disagree with you on this point for the simple fact that he's basing much of his comments on incorrect information.

FedEx does include pilots in the hiring process.
HR is, in fact, not included in the actual interview process.
We are still hiring top notch candidates.

Other than that, he's spot on.

This may be the situation and if so, it's very unfortunate. Perhaps a situation brought on by the actions of a minority of past guardsmen and reservists. While the choice to avoid such candidates on the part of FedEx is unfortunate, it is their prerogative.

However, it's not a result of their failing to "value the experience and competency" of military pilots in general - as the OP lamented. Somehow we still manage to have a pretty high percentage of former military in our new hire classes - but let's not let the facts cloud the issue.

He has complaints about the PE program - so do I.
Complaints about the general selection process and computer screening algorithm? So do I - I can't get a civilian buddy to even be considered because his time is too high.

Maybe he should have done a bit more research and written about what is actually happening here instead of trying to make his narrative fit whatever happened almost 30 years ago at NWA. Because in the cold light of the day, it's not, no matter how eloquently and passionately our proud captain tried to convince us it is.

The end result of his Op-Ed (in three different threads) was to end up generating random comments that may or may not be related or truly factual from those with both military and civilian backgrounds. After that, in this thread anyway, it's pretty much devolved into a bit of a pi$$ing contest which we really don't need. Reading this thread, you'd think FedEx had big issues with mixing folks of various backgrounds. Out on the line, I see mutual respect and rarely, if ever, encounter issues with someone's former life, whatever that may be.

Time to move on and maybe chalk this one up to a senior moment.