Should I try to become a commercial pilot?
I'm a 38 year old man who is about to retire from the Army after 20 years of service. I'm uncertain what I want to do as a career after I'm done with the Army. I've been doing IT (Information Technology) for the Army for all 20 years I've been in, but I don't feel I'm at the level of expertise I need to be in order to transition to anything higher than an entry level position in the civilian world - in other words, I'd be starting all over again. This is because as I moved up the ranks in the Army, I was expected to spend more time managing soldiers and performing more administrative and management tasks, which took me away from working on the equipment which further robbed me of practical IT experience the further I moved up the ranks. But it's not a complete loss because now I can write down on resumes that I have over a dozen years of leadership and management experience.
Recently, though, a recruiter for the LIFT Academy (started by Republic Airways) approached me and suggested I apply for their "zero to hero" flight school. I did some research of what being a commercial pilot was like, how much I might be able to earn as a salary if I stick with it long enough, and about the current pilot shortage. That got me interested. My current life situation is that I have no wife or kids, and I have lots of money saved up because of low living expenses and being generally good at managing my finances. I would have to move to Indianapolis, though, for this particular flight school. Also, I have absolutely no piloting experience whatsoever.
So given all of the above, should I stick with IT or should I make the jump at becoming a pilot?