Mainly because that great living wage my wife makes is no where near my unit. So I'm in a bit of a pickle :(

I've got a little bit more time but pretty much in the EXACT same situation. I'm hoping my upcoming deployment will provide some clarity haha, but in the meantime I'm going to enjoy spending the next few weeks with my newborn son before I head out. I'll let you know if I gain some kind of insight while on my "vision quest".

There are many people out there like you. With MPA funding going away and fewer deployments, Guard/Reserve co-pilots will have to go to the regionals to boost their hours. Having been there myself, avoid commuting to both. One commute is manageable, but not two. There are a lot of opportunities out there, so don't delay.

I empathize. I'm divorced to a woman who was unwilling to flex to the exigencies of my military flying career. Now I'm married to a woman who supports these choices and doesn't resent the geographical choices and relative vocational subordinate role she has to temporarily accept in order to make this joint life project work for us.

Good bad or indifferent, it is what it is. You have a choice to make, do you want to fly professionally for a living or do you want to be a kept man? No right or wrong answer, but it's a conversation you're gonna have to have with the frau, otherwise it's gonna erode the relationship irreparably. Two Chiefs make a bad tribe brother, color me sexist. My experience has been that, jokes and daydreams of flying TBM 700s on the wife's income aside, most men don't do well as kept men. We're always looking to cut our teeth on something, and we tend to end up locking eyes on women who encourage/support us to do what we like to do. YMMV of course.

I'd still look at the mil side as a quicker conduit to a legacy job, I'm not particularly swayed by the idea that a stint at the regionals as an FO is gonna make an appreciable dent in your quest to mainline. I'm a believer that cursory mil TPIC and solid mil connections is a quicker shot to a mainline job, with better QOL to boot. I'd trough on the mil side, and if the current unit is a dry pot, I'd look for another one.

Before the new ATP requirements took over, I would have said go to a regional. The reason, to open another path to PIC, and cushion yourself from those "voluntary deployment" opportunities, and as a means of having sanity. When the regional got to be too much, string together a month's worth of AT, AFTPs, and RUTAs. When the squadron got low on funds, go fly at the regional. Whichever one gave the upgrade first, was the one to start flying for more than the other. I have known several UPT grads to 130 units who have done this very thing, but they also lived at their military job's location. Several of them thought they would upgrade in the squadron first, then the money and training slots dried up, and now they are 121 Captains and logging PIC.

I don't know the answer now. With the war drawing down, and the current fiscal climate, the hours are going to dwindle. I would imagine the competition for TDYs and flying hours is going to get ugly in units with lots of bums/ troughers. I agree with Hindsight about the idea of more SIC is not going to help. You need an ATP, and 1,500 hours. Have you thought about flight instructing at a flight school where you live? A UPT T-6 grad plus your time in the MWS makes you an ideal candidate for a CFI. You already have the commercial single and multi. You could pick up some commercial for hire flying. I did my CFI after UPT and 1000 hrs in the 130, and flew a lot of photo flights and some other stuff as well as flight instructing. The other thread on the army helo driver looking for FW time mentioned jump schools as a time builder. No cross country time, but you'll get that and night time in the mil plane.

Good luck.

The ATP rule is only for 121 carriers. Has the OP thought about 91/135 operators in their local area? Sounds like that would be more productive towards your ultimate goals and would save you the sanity of a double commute. Spending some time sitting in FBOs and shaking some hands would be a good way to get started.

You can get on with a regional at 800hrs.

Fresh,

Lots of good advice on here. The short version: I know you need total time, but the most important time you need is time in the left seat of something. It's certainly worth putting your resume in...can't quit a job you don't have but I would focus much more on getting upgraded to aircraft commander and then to an IP. Unless the regional you're considering is hemorrhaging people such that your upgrade will happen faster there vs your guard unit, I would focus on the quickest upgrade. Time in the right seat at a regional won't hurt you but it probably won't help a ton. If you were already an AC then yes, it might help that you have some part 121 stink on you. Personally don't think it's necessary to do that but some people do. Don't get too caught up in the current hiring trends and how many apps are on file, etc. Those same apps are most likely in at every airline, the pool of super qualified guys will continue to diminish, etc.

If you were single, it would make the decision much easier, so I would take a single guy's take with a grain of salt. The biggest variable that doesn't sound like it exists for you yet is children. If/When you start to have them, the double commute with a working spouse is almost impossible. Eventually someone will suffer and things will have to change. Are there families that make it work? Probably, but from first hand experience, it's tough and regardless of what the spouse might say, you will most likely miss your kids a lot and you can't get that time back. That's just my perspective and for now you said you don't have kids so this is a non issue. Good luck with whatever you decide. PM with any questions you might not want to ask on a public forum.

For anyone who is/has been on reserve AND done the Reserve/Guard thing, what does that schedule wind up looking like? I'm assuming that after 15-18 days a month of sitting reserve, 10ish days a month of mil duty and travel to/from a domicile, there's little to no time off other than days on reserve that don't get a phone call. Or are my numbers way off? How much extra time does commuting to short call eat up?

I guess a simpler way of asking the same thing: once a reasonable amount of mil leave is taken, how many days do you wind up sitting reserve per month?