Originally Posted by
rickair7777
What he said.
Also the reserves can be a very useful means of maintaining income potential and more importantly, benefits, during your training and the early poverty-level years in aviation. Also it can provide a fallback job and retirement benefits, I have found military reserves very helpful during my aviation career so far. Are you a CT? If so odds are good that you will have no problem jumping back to a full-time status for the forseeable future should you find the need.
Also you might want to consider your reasons for disliking the military...professional aviation has some things in common with the military, which is why airlines like ex-military people. But people who left the military because they couldn't hack it, work with others, or behave responsibly probably aren't airline material either. If you have a good record in the military, you should be fine in aviation even if you don't enjoy the military. But if you are a "problem child" you may need to do some soul-searching before pursuing the airlines.
And like somebody said, get your PPL asap and fly around for fun some to see if you like it. The GI Bill won't pay for that anyway so you might as well get started.
Good points... especially about the the airlines liking ex-military. I'm not a CT. I work in imagery/geospatial analysis. I'm far from a "problem child." I have a great record thus far, good at my job, and am held in high regard amongst my peers and superiors. There are times when I am annoyed with the military aspects of the job, but I understand that it comes with the territory. I play the game, and I play it well. It simply comes down to feeling unfulfilled.
Continuing in intelligence (civilian or military) would certainly be the path of least resistance. I just can not help but believe that life is too short to spend it in a dimly lit cubicle farm.
Agreed on the PPL. It's coming out of my own pocket anyway. Might as well get it done ASAP.