Originally Posted by Lighteningspeed

I disagree with that premise period. Military screening has no direct correlation with IQ required to being a smart airline pilot. All it proves is that a candidate has an aptitude for flying including spatial orientation and situational awareness on PAPER. It is at the weeding out process during the actual flight training that sifts out most talented. Even then many slip through the crack as evidenced by the accident figures.

As someone indicated, many "smart" civilian pilot candidate do not opt for the military. Unless you take a random sampling of statistically significant sample of all military pilot selectee versus all civilian pilot students, the statement that military pilots are on average smarter than civilian pilots is an unsubstantiated rumor. I've seen a lot of dumb and smart pilots on both ends, civilian and military.

Military does provide a superior training, discipline and unique flying experience you can't get anywhere else. Take it for what it's worth from a guy trained as a civilian first then and in the military.