Completely false...you should take whatever else this person told you through a filter, because they are misinformed. And honestly, you need to take everything through a filter pursuing this career. Often times people will put a lot of stock in what a wide body Captain has to say about getting an airline job, or an O5 or higher has to say about joining the military. These can be some of the most ignorant on the subject, because things have changed dramatically since they were hired (there are exceptions).

 

Somebody lied to you, not sure why they would do that.

Fighters are more challenging (mission complexity, multi-mission, aerobatics, etc), and also tend to be the most sought-after, and are therefore the most competitive platform for assignment. Between the competition to even get a slot, and the challenges of qualifying and completing initial flying tours, airlines understand that the lowest common denominator in fighters in generally higher than other communities, military and civilian. On the rare occasion when fighter pilots fail airline interviews or training, it's almost invariably an attitude issue, not flying or learning ability. You get some of that from active duty, but I would say probably never from guard guys (better mentors and climate).

 

Oh .... I can not say any advice, as I am in Hungary... but I hope you find your way.

I was in the army (as a girl), because I love military aviation.. I wanted to try them all...so I became communication officer and I had a lot of chance to fly on different aircrafts for photographing <3

(I was starting PPL as a hobby as civilian)
I loved military, really. Was the best time of my life.

 

I flew fighters but have a slight different perspective than others on here. I absolutely cherish flying fighters and friends I’ve made along the way but if your goal is the airlines via military flying, the quickest way is to fly heavies. Remember, it takes a lot of 1.2 sorties to accrue 1,500 hours. Very few fighter pilots have 1,500 hours, even the 20 year types unless you were deployed/flew a ton of combat missions. Just like everything in life, it’s all timing. HR/airlines look at numbers and as much as fighter time is pure quality hours, you have to meet the minimums, which usually isn’t very competitive. Many of my squadron buds spent some time at the regionals before moving onto the majors.
In regards to fighters being more sought after than heavies.....yes and no. I’ve had several friends track select into T-1s when they could’ve selected T-38s. Many went onto fly C-17s and KC-10s without any regrets. To each his own. As I’ve said before, I thoroughly enjoyed flying with my hair on fire but 10-12 hour days behind the desk and deploying to the sand box for months at a time grew old fast. Pick your poison and choose wisely.

 

The quickest way to the majors is probably civilian and then join the ANG.

Active duty military is not the quickest path.

 

If you do fighters in the guard/reserve, you can also build time as a civilian pilot, won't take anywhere nearly as long as it would on regular active duty.

On active duty, you can also do a tour as an instructor pilot, and rack up a lot of quality time that way.

 

"Quality" is in the eye of the beholder...

https://youtu.be/lG2kNL7CC-I

 

The problem is the 2.5(?) year time going through training during which you get 250-300 hrs. At a regional that’s 2000 hrs. It depends upon ones resume before joining the ANG if it’s a bump or a drag on ones advance to the majors.

 

Worst case, it delays you by what two years? But you get to fly fighters... I wouldn't give up seniority for much, but that's probably on the list.

 

That’s the decision that has to be made. I took the risk. Cost me up to a year. Months matter, a year is a big deal. It’s at least a couple hundred thousand, might be over a $500,000 hit, but I enjoyed the heck out of it.