I know that if I do go into the AF, it will be very unlikely that my short civilian career before I went into service would matter 10 or 20 years later. It’s just that I started my flight training during the downturn after 9/11; became very excited when 1 year before I graduated, regionals came directly to my school to hire all the seniors; and by the time I graduated, major airline pilots were applying to the regionals that took their flying. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t be surprised if 10 or 20 years from now I would have difficulty getting an airline job even with a military record. Also, if I get stuck with UAVs, I might have to start at the bottom again.

Right now, I have two potential job opportunities. One is a flight school that only has former AF pilots as CFIs (until me hopefully), the other is a corporate flight department where I would make more money and possible get some turbine time. I could see myself applying to this same corporate flight department when I leave the AF, but I don’t know how they will react when they realize I was the guy they hired who left after 6 months for the AF. Everyone always says to not burn any bridges in aviation, but this is tempting.