Don't get me wrong, we're all pilots and we all want to fly. But let's face it - there are fewer reasons to pursue a flying job outside of the military. You don't have to look all that far to find plenty of people who would rather be flying any UAV as opposed to being furloughed from a major airline. Hell, I even know plenty of guys with 5-10 years of seniority who would rather deploy to Al Udeid for 120-180 days compared to doing their airline job. Pay and benefits are way better in the USAF.

If you want to stay in and make it a career, the UAV job definitely has more advantages than being a C-5 IP. Let's face it, the C-5 may be on its deathbed... some will get new engines, and a lot more will go to the Guard/Reserve. Being an MWS IP used to be a mandatory square to fill for promotion to O-4. That was yesterday. Today, they still want a certain % of those folks. But the bigger emphasis is on fighting today's war. They absolutely demand another larger % of officers who have a broad baseline of experience, like C-21, C-5, and UAV. In your career, you WILL see either a space or UAV guy as CSAF.

If you still want to pursue the airlines in another 3-5 years, you can. I have a buddy who got into a bit of trouble and he got shipped off to a non-flying craphole job to finish off his 20 years. After being out of the cockpit for about 4 years, he got hired at CAL, and is now hating life on reserve in EWR. If you play your cards right, that could be you in 5 years. Just do a little bit of civilian flying on the side.

Riddler