Sort of true-

You cannot ride IN THE JUMPSEAT, however, riding as a "jump seater" in the cabin is possible with your ID alone. Not being in CASS will only prevent access to the flight deck seat.

I rode southwest during training, no problem. But during check in the agent did mention it had to be a cabin seat. (Your airline/agent results may vary, but CASS/Jumpseat occupation vs. a "Jumpseat agreement" ...can ride in cabin...are not the same thing)

For our class 12/7/15 it was generally true that you weren't in CASS/KCM database until after Checkride was complete.

I never did any for free either. Unless they did away with it I was usually on TPs. Good deal, could get dual TPs if you were flying. Did some days on orders too, but tried to use TPs when possible.

Summer 2014 hires were in CASS/KCM from week one of indoc. I'm surprised to hear new hires must wait until complete with training.

As a mil guy, I can attest that it is a poor decision to take mil leave prior to finishing consolidation. It's a tough transition from mil to 121. Not overwhelming, but not a gentleman's program. Finish training/OE/consolidation, bid around drill, max your $$ by dropping trips only when necessary. My $.02.

Delta expects that you will be available for all initial training. You can play the mil leave trump card and take time off and you're not going to be fired. Keep in mind however that it will take Delta perhaps 5 minutes to find out if the mil leave was unavoidable on your part or if you're gaming the system. Most of the 4th floor are either in the guard or reserves or served. If you're gaming things and something goes wrong later don't expect any support. I personally know one person who dropped orders on them the second day of in doc. They later had a layover issue and no longer work for Delta. Mil leave is always unpaid regardless of being a new hire or when flying the line.

As far working other jobs Delta could care less. You can do what you want with one exception. You can't perform civilian flying for hire without permission from flight ops.

I'm already through training, no military leave used. But am hearing some interesting things recently about performing military duty in general. Assume not gaming system.

So can you work military duty while on long call without putting mil leave on schedule (so you do not loose pay) as long as you are available to Delta per reserve requirements. For example wake up at 6am nothing on schedule go to military unit work 4 hours writing OPR's go home. If Delta had called and assigned a trip for 6pm (earliest possible report) 100% available. No impact on Delta.

Or how about working military duty after or before a trip on same day without putting mil leave on schedule? Land from Delta trip at 1000am go to Military unit and work. No military leave taken or put on schedule because you did not want to drop trip? No impact on Delta.

Seems like you are answering your own question.

And mil leave between indoc and sims just seems like a terrible idea.

How often does it occur that your sim partner is a fellow new hire? I assumed new FOs going through sim qual were always paired with a CA going through his own upgrade as well. Not so?

Will be doing the same thing, starting Monday, and would like to know what is the toughest part? What's most important for us mil guys to know?

Show up and have a good attitude. Everything else will take care of itself. It's not a hard transition.

As is most things, it's seniority driven. The most senior in your class will begin and finish training first and they will also be the first people assigned with any Captains in upgrade training. If they run out of upgrading pilots then they go by seniority and assign hew hires to each other. Whether that happens is all dependent on the training demands at the time they create your sim schedule.

My sim partner was in my class and was an all-military background. He had the 737 type while I had all the 121 experience between the two of us. We worked well together. One key to 121 flying is always staying ahead of the airplane and operation. In the sim I've always been well served by telling myself if I'm sitting around doing nothing then I'm doing something wrong. The lessons are fast-paced most of the time so you'll be moving on to new tasks frequently. It's really something you have to experience to understand. I applaud your eagerness and curiosity but, even though I have no military service, I know you'll be well served by your training experience during your service.

New hire pairings, while not optimum, are common and workable. They use seat fillers on certain modules.

Initially, it's all about the ESV...electronic systems evaluation. Know the LOD (an objectives type/mqf document). You'll get this info at Indoc. In the ftd/sim it's all in the delta instructor guide (DIG) available to you on line. Your instructor will clearly tell you tomorrow's agenda/what to know.

Get comfortable not knowing as much as you think you should know. It's all part of the plan.