Other young AF pilots take heed. The writing is on the wall these days. If you want to stay in a cockpit, pick up the phone and call AFSOC. The MC-12, the M-28, the U-28 are all up and coming. They might not be the airframe you want, but it will keep you in the air. Or, you can sit back and wait to be non-vol'd to a predator. There is a very real possibility the original poster, and others like him, will never be able to return to the cockpit. With the way a typical AF career is structured, that's just the reality.