Originally Posted by Work4life

Since time is all I have sitting reserve, I'll play.
I state a fact and you say that I'm boasting. You sound like some of the incompetent narccistic commanders I used to work for. You know, the ones who like to speak out of their anus because they enjoy hearing themselves make noises out of both ends.
Service is service, regardless of intent and ambitions. Everyone who I flew fighters with did not start out wanting to just "serve". Yes, everyone! We all shared a common goal of being fighter pilots. Sense of patriotism and service came along the way. You can bleed red, blue, and white all day but in the end, you risk it all for the person standing next to you and your buds. Maybe you haven't caught on but this country or the world for that matter, very much like the company and the union, could careless about you. They are no better than corporate America; everyone uses each other for gain. Understand this: corporate America runs the government and not the other way around. The bottom line is $$$ and if you ain't performing, you'll be out of a job real quick. If you can understand this and accept the fact, life will get much easier. Too many of you live in denial and when expectations aren't met, you all cry like little girls. Life's vertigo.
Dude, I don't know what you did to be stuck in a rut. You must have a skeleton or two in your closet, personal flaws, or plain bad luck though I don't believe in bad luck. As for your flawed observation of my career, I did not stay an extra decade. I did my minimum commitement and separated. While I was in, I did everything I can to accrue as many hours as possible to be competitive on the out side, which meant turning down the coveted weapons school slot. I did everything in my power and made huge sacrifices to make myself marketable to the airlines. Can you say that for yourself? Alaska was my dream airline but soon realized its major flaws and so I left for another legacy.
Feel free to drown in your sorrows. It's your life. As the saying goes, early birds gets the worm. You can fight on or crawl up and die. You didn't have a choice?!?! Very weak excuse. Everyone has a choice in this free country, bro.