Thanks Buck, those details are a big help and not something I've been able to find through the usual searches. Your advice is very much appreciated as well - if I was still in a squadron I'd happily get you a beer from the bar. Since I'm unfortunately not I'll just have to say I owe you one. My fingers crossed during the waiting game, thanks again!

 

Thanks man! I'm always afraid of hostile internet forum responders, so I try to minimize offensive comments to avoid the resulting flame wars. Takes away from the help and learning us rational folks use forums for.

 

I will lead with, YES, jealousy is part of it.

That said I was lucky enough to get to the place I hope to retire but many of my 121 friends have not been lucky enough to get even a call for an interview while they keep plugging away in trenches making the majors billions while they make poverty wages for longer than a decade.

As far as military guys giving away acomfortable way of life- maybe all the military guys I know and have flown with have downplayed their sacrifice but most of them painted life in the military as pretty cush except for the time away from family on deployments (I agree, that is a huge sacrifice), but otherwise they never really had much to worry about. Then they come out with a lifetime pension, healthcare, and multiple employment offers. Pretty good for 20 years. Shiit my wife's grandmother still shops at a base commissary subsidized by my taxes and no one in her family has been in the military in decades.

I flew with a guy that was in the army as some sort of trigger puller and he said that basically 90% of all branches of the military are support staff. They never leave the base and are never in harms way. I just wish I found out all the perks before I was too old because I always viewed the military as similar to saving private Ryan. Modern military is not like that for 'most' is how it's been explained to me.

Don't employers get some tax incentive for hiring veterans too? That clouds the best candidate decision if you ask me. Very little of the military flying translates to 121. Not to say it can't be learned but you have thousands of guys already working in the system that can hit the ground running.

I can think of countless guys that would leap at the first class date they could get in this very competitive environment and we have a guy who has only applied to two carriers and then is asking how to delay accepting the job if they can. Maybe it wasn't meant to be but I sounded arrogant as many military guys have similar questions. I guess it's not their fault because they just don't know much about the airlines but that's kind of my point and it's just so competitive these days.

I'll quit whining now

 

Is this a joke?

 

I don't think you're whining. There's a lack of understanding and experience on both sides. Military guys don't know the industry and the industry doesn't know the military side. I went mil to a 121 regional and it was a relatively easy transition for me.

I can't speak for all airframes, but there's a vast difference between flying A to B on a jet with an FMS and excellent autopilot with MFD's and doing a 300AGL low-level route in formation hand-flying through an airdrop with flaps out on Night Vision Goggles.

 

The gist of your post is that you are saying that mil dudes should get in line behind regional dudes for jobs at the majors because their flying experience doesn't translate to the 121 world. I can tell you that there's a lot of truth to that assertion, but I can make a nuanced argument about the subject because I've done both. You haven't done both. You've heard some stories second-hand, but you don't know. My personal opinion on the subject of you running your mouth about the subject--and you can take it or leave it--is that you really shouldn't run your mouth about the subject.

Oh, and I have to point out that you said that military pilots didn't really make any sacrifices except for when they went on all their deployments and had to be away from their families for weeks/months/years at a time. Yeah, I can see how that really isn't much of a sacrifice. Not compared to being in the trenches at a regional I suppose. GMAFB.


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For what it's worth, I learned way more about, leadership, airmanship, performing under pressure, working with a crew, dealing with outside agencies, and general knowledge about the flying world at UPT and my first year of flying the KC-10 then I did instructing or flying for a 121 carrier. Having said that, I have gotten to work with some of the smartest, most motivated and hardworking pilots in equal number on both sides of the fence. Hope to get a chance to fly with you guys at a major in the next few years!

 

Although I'm quoting you from this morning, I was thinking there wasn't a military related reason. The ones you came up with are certainly valid, just not something that occurred to me at 5 am.

 

You need to quit typing.

However, the OPs time in the military in some way helps to ensure you have the freedom to say what you want.

 

What were you doing up at 5am, if you weren't in an airplane being paid??

Just arrived from Joburg?