At the risk of being stoned for apostasy, I think that there are plenty of Airline pilots who used the military as a stepping stone. I am one of them. I made my mind up to bail about 1 year into my fleet tour, and positioned my self to make the jump from there on out. (Putting flying above ground job, taking an instructor with the AF that no one else wanted but offered tons of multi engine jet vs single engine turbo prop)

I didn't join the military to become an airline pilot, as others have said, (hell, I didn't even know that pilot would be my first choice til my NROTC training between soph and jr year) but I decided pretty early on that I didn't want to make the military a career.

That being said, you must be committed to the military and the people you are serving with, as well as the mission at hand, even if your goals are not to make it a career. And you have to enjoy it while you can, cause its only in the military that you'll take a crew of sub- 30 year olds to exotic locations with no cares whatsoever.

Somehow a layover with some one who is almost as old as my father just isn't the same.

As far as the Guard/reserve goes, in theory that sounds perfect, but I know the the guys who make a living at it at my AFRES unit are working very hard right now, deploying as much as AD guys to make it work.

Its not always like that, but I just point this out that its not some undiscovered nirvana as some make it out to be.

The pros of mil experience: plenty of networking, quality time

Cons: gone a lot, get to the majors a little later than the regional wunderkids, (but their career trajectory is also a function of the economy.)