This is pretty funny. Sensing some unresolved personal angst.

Current class has people from a very wide variety of backgrounds including at least one from skywest, but maybe 5 also have mil backgrounds. Only a few are coming directly from mil, both USAF and Navy.

Regardless of whatever chips are carried on whoever's shoulders, mil training is still considered the gold standard. Someone who gets through multiple military training programs has a good statistical chance of getting through their first 121 type and indoc training, regardless of how many hours they have. That's a good bet for an HR department in any company, the only question being if that pilot is going to quit to go somewhere else after training is done. Maybe that's because getting through training and adapting to a completely new job is pretty much just another day at the office for most mil pilots. Not saying that's not true for non-mil pilots, but a mil pilot has already proven they're able to do that more than once even if they only have 1700 hrs or whatever.

Given the wide variety of backgrounds I've seen here already though, I don't think there's a bad choice as long as it helps you meet the SWA min requirements. Solid 121 experience at a "big" regional like skywest or an LCC like spirit does seem to have advantages with respect to being prepared for the training program, but SWA training has a pretty low washout rate so I don't think they're all that worried about the quality of the people they bring aboard. It seems like if they like you, they'll hire you regardless of where you're coming from and work hard to get you through training. Very diverse group in my class.

Edit: I know some mil folks don't make it through the SWA interview. Not because of qualifications, but because of the intangible qualities SWA is looking for. The mil guys in my class seem to be genuinely good people, same as everyone else in the class. Once you meet the requirements for the interview the final screening is for attitude, and for that it doesn't matter what your background is.