Originally Posted by
Thor
I have 2 honorable discharges, how many do you have?
Those pilots who abuse USSERA serve in a volunteer force, nobody’s been conscripted, drafted, or forced to serve. To claim some moral high ground for “god and county” is a load of horse poop. Every reservist and guard bum I’ve flown with answers the same way when I ask “why do you do it?”. The answer is always “for the retirement”. In fact, if you were to take away the personal enrichment and financial incentive of a military retirement, how many pilots would hide behind USSERA?
As far as being a drag on the system, as pointed out; training, benefits, and extra manpower are all real excess costs borne by the company for which there’s zero ROI. Yes, that is a drag on the network.
When the company isn't closing BES’s only to reopen them, and domestic narrow body production gets within range of 7 hrs/day(or even 6) without a dozen 3 hour airport sits/month in a line award, etc... you can preach about what a drag mil guys are on the system and the man power costs. As of now they’re so insignificant the company doesn’t even care. Not even a rounding error. Long term mil leave guys draw zero benefits, they literally cost zero while they’re gone. Why don’t you just say thanks for your service and move on within the realm of your own business?
As far as profiteering? I lose over $500/day just in pay... so yeah try again. That big profit sharing check this year is gonna pay off huge on the 300 or so hours I’ve credited.