Sir,
As an ex USAF Reserve Herc driver that flew in the commuters as well, I recommend you take the path that will get you the mostest/quickest left seat turbine time--sounds like that's being a full-time Herc pilot, unless you have other hot leads on quick paths to a left seat. When Herc time in my reserve unit was drying up due to cuts and lots of reserve bums, I took a commuter job that looked to have fast upgrade to Capt...I did upgrade in a year so it worked out...luck and timing is huge...I got some advice from one of my squadron/airline buddies: forget about money and quality of life in the career building stage and go where the experience will get you in a big jet seat ASAP and fly your tail off...seniority is life in a career. Some of my Herc buds fiddled around in various jobs and wasted a lot of time as FEs and FOs...don't mean to lecture, but I got lots of great advice from guys who knew and that's what I'm passing on to you. Good luck!