There is no such thing as a fast route. Lots of hard work, and a lot of luck as well are required to land that dream job. However one thing that will always help is taking pride in yourself, and your profession. A lot of people have forgotten this, went for the quick and easy, and failed miserably.

As far as the ratings go you're going to have to pay for them if you go the civilian route. It's expensive no doubt. This is one of the reasons that many will tell you it's best to attend a lower cost state school (take every advantage of those scholarships!) and get a degree in something else. The airline programs really don't teach you anything extra for those thousands of dollars and the hype associated with getting your foot in the door is just that. There are no airlines that require a degree in aviation. Once you're at a regional you'll have plenty of networking as the captains you fly with move on to bigger and better.

I did all my training through the civilian route. If the military aspect of CAP turned you off it would be advisable to avoid going to the military just because of free flight training. It could be a very miserable 10 years if you sign up and they don't have slots available. Go into the military because you want to serve in the military.