Grumble

You wanna go fishing, I’ll bite.

Autoland, really?
Mil has duty limits too, only there are frequently boots on the ground needing your support, not taking the Joneses to Disney.
NADP departure? Flap scheduling and power reductions are hard...
Metering? Seriously? You’re sitting there not moving waiting for your turn or copying a reroute
Untowered fields. Wow, remember to cancel and click the mic to turn the lights on.
ACARS and dispatch, two things the mil aviator doesn’t have, and must do on their own. You ever tried to plan and file in Europe on your own? That’s a third circle of hell I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
Bidding? Commuting? Really? How about spending ten months at sea and flying off 4 acres.

Take those “challenges,” multiply them by 100, execute them all on every flight and you might have some semblance of the normal operating routine of most mil aviators on an average combat deployment.

Hard 121 day... Deicing with no APU in DEN and ACARS inop and flying to ASE after the tower has closed.

Hard mil day.... 12+ hour close air support mission off the boat, hit 7 tankers, expend all ordnance trying to defend guys on the ground being over run while coordinating with other air assets, C3, CAOC, wingman, while executing within the legal rules of engagement that are changing daily, not killing your own guys or innocent people on the ground managing multiple sensor packages and weapons systems. Then return to said boat (or other crap hole) where there’s no beer to be had to decompress from said day. Get ready to do it again tomorrow. For months on end.

Better yet, imagine someone taking away all those tools you listed above. Then imagine the company gives you an airplane and a cellphone and says go around the globe, making stops along the way, do all your own load planning, weather, billeting, dispatch, performance, weather forecasting, fuel planning, flight planning, dip clearances, etc, and just call us when you land and tell us all those things above. Your average heavy AMC guys do this as normal ops.

busdriver12

^^That reminds me of how freaking glad I am to be out of the military. I don't miss it whatsoever.

Timberdux

I’d recommend not sharing this theory with new hires, as it comes off as a bit offensive, at least to me. I’d also like to argue that interviewing 30 days prior to start date vs 120 days would forfeit very little, if any talent. Hypothetically speaking, let’s say Delta and FDX are competing for the same pilot for a May 1st class. Delta interviews said pilot on Jan 1st and makes a CJO. We interview April 1st and offer a CJO the next week. It’s now April 8th, candidate does not yet have a seniority number at Delta, and will likely pick whichever airline made the best impression. If that airline is FedEx, Delta loses a would-be new hire on short notice. Until a pilot is on property and accruing seniority, nothing is lost by picking the second or third to interview. The only way to ensure we staff our fleet with the best talent would be to hire far more pilots than we currently need.

SaltyDog

Grumble,
You covered the big stuff.... will add holding over the boat +/- 5 second push on the approach with constant changing push times.... to an emcon (no electronic aids) night visual landing on the boat, landing the occasional manual Cat 2/3 with voice paddles 'we hear you keep it coming" while blue water (no other place to land) and no autoflight. Hand flown.
I was the best instrument pilot when flying mil. I do Cat II/III on autoflight today and think "This ain't bad"
Tanking at night in thunderstorms is always an exercise in a pressure cooker. On the flip side, Met some part 135 cargo dogs in past that were very good instrument pilots as well flying some challenging single pilot nights. A professional is a professional. We all have burdens, military has many other lives in your palms though as a routine of the mission flying planes. Not so much in my civ flying. Mentally different.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sluggo63 dead on regarding USERRA, illegal to not hire based on MIL. Very difficult to prove. Would not discuss in any airline interview your future military plans. If a prospective interviewer is digging in, I would write notes down, get names, etc as they are pressing the law. If hired, terrific, if not, did all the answers to military future plans tube the interview?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
HR and lawyers all want PHD's, Masters, and other bragging rights on the widgets they hire. Metrics sound so neat and clean. Its a smart way to cover your six. An excuse matrix really.
HR and lawyers decide the menu, as pilots, no choice in the menu. Only choose from what they deliver. Better? Worse? I have seen examples of worse, we actually seem to be letting more folks go at our place than ever before in first year. One data point, no more.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Civil or Military? Was GA in high school and college, Military, then Part 135/121 and now 121. A professional is a professional. Period.
A professional from any background will learn and do fine in a 121 world. We are widgets to our employers. Our opinion matters little. MBA's rule.
Different backgrounds can give an experience that is useful in teaching other professionals. Noticed my share of folks on both sides of the fence have a challenge with those who cut teeth on the other side. Learned much that is invaluable from both sides of the experience lane.

fr8doggiestyle

Grumble - OMG. I wasn't saying anything about whose job is harder. I'm not trying to measure the size of anyone's landing gear here. I'm saying I did this job with a different color tail before, so someone can't say FedEx isn't hiring captains. They are hiring captains. Yes, hard days in the military. I get it. I never experienced it. I'm just saying those who didn't experience still deserve to be here too. We just have a different skill set that makes us all EQUALLY qualified. I wasn't even close to insinuating 121 flying is anywhere as difficult as military flying. It's apples and oranges. Pigs and cows. Ya can't compare them.

TSioux55

Thank you for your service. Sounds tough and I’m glad I didn’t go through all that, so again, thank you. But all that doesn’t mean you are more qualified for a 121 job than someone with several thousand hours of 121 experience.

DiamondZ

OP position was never a mil vs civ argument.

Throw in a comment about 'landing an aircraft without tower checking to make sure the gear is down' just may come across as a shot to mil folks.

Grumble

Nor did I intend it to be, but yes fr8’s post came off as totally dismissive of experience while trying to compare “challenges.”

Salty nailed it.

FrankTheTank

Well said Salty!

Tbpilot06

I read all of these posts and can’t help but notice no one talks about 91 pilots who may also have 135 experience. I’m patiently waiting (hoping) for an interview but after reading this I’m not sure a non military , non 121 pilot has much of a chance. What’s the trick to convince the computer? I’m thinking not checking that military or 121 box Is a huge negative point on the app?