Originally Posted by
aeroengineer
Interesting. If someone's ultimate goal were the airlines then the current hiring wave will be a distant memory after that many years. Of course, if I could read the tea leaves that far out, I would be getting paid a lot more as an analyst for someone.
The real challenge for a young person looking at a long military commitment is that you sign on the dotted line but don’t actually know what you will be doing. There are massive lifestyle differences between fighters, bombers, tac airlift, strat airlift, tankers, and various helos. Additionally, the USAF retains the right to kick you to the curb if it’s budgetarily convenient.
All that said, USAF doesn’t have a pilot recruitment problem. It does have a pilot training problem and a retention problem.