Originally Posted by
Armyguy
The grass is not greener. You are flying a fighter jet in the Navy. Pretty darn cool. I wouldnt trade 1 day of my military service for 1 day at the airlines and I was a loser helicopter pilot for a big chunk of it. This airline flying is by far the most boring flying you will ever do.....how guys do 40 years of LGA-DFW without going crazy is beyond me. Wait, I get it, they do JFK-LHR over and over also.
First, I want to apologize for hacking this thread. That was not my intent.
I love what I do and I love that I get to do it for the country I love. I have done some cool **** and have met so many amazing people so I will never regret my decision to join. I signed up for 8 years (after winging, which took me 4 long years to get) and I will serve those to my utmost. However, spending 7-10 straight months on a a piece of steel with covid "portcalls" will wear down any salty sailor.
For me its not about the insane salary numbers people are posting but the QOL the airlines seem to have. I sat next to FedEx pilot on my flight back from Christmas leave and after talking to him, the Navy is fighting a losing battle if they want pilots to stay in after their commitment. The Fedex salary and pension are almost 3x that of the military and his QOL was off the charts.
Military aviation aviation is awesome and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to serve their country, fly badass jets, and get a decent paycheck while doing it. However, their are drawbacks to it which make it not as appealing the further into you get.
Thank you all for letting me hack this thread. Definitely gives me something to look forward to, even if it is 4 years away.