By staying active until 20 (for your said reasons) my uncle gave up 8 years of widebody captain pay at delta, experienced the furlough for a while until he got recalled. His Lt Col retirement hardly covers that pay disparity. Sure it's security, but without that "security" he would have been more secure at DAL, would have not been furloughed, and would have had a lot more money at retirement. And probably a higher QOL for longer at DAL. And that's not even counting the intangible cost of dealing with being active duty and the lack of QOL associated with it.

You don't know what the right timing decision is until age 65. Being on the front of this hiring wave is huge. That said, I'd get a seniority number and go find a guard unit to bum in until 20 and at least get something, and be able to drop mil leave when times get tough, furloughs happen, etc.

He can take a weeks leave and sign up with Sporty's and get it done. 4500 dollars. A small investment in a career.

Please PM me the secret. 3k TT IP, heavy, really heavy, light as well, nothing yet besides a Delta "fix it." Internal recs, no skeletons, etc. Now have about 6 months at a regional.

Don't discount the regionals. Don't think the majors are waiting to kick your door in and take you. I know a guy who got the call 3 weeks after he put in his app with no recs, IP time, jet time, etc...I know guys whose dads are legacy CAs who are still waiting. Hell, I know a woman whose only heard crickets, and she's got the golden ticket, right? Point is, it'll happen, maybe tomorrow, maybe not. Be prepared for everything.

And staying until 20? Getting out was a no brainier. Unless I really wanted a UAV. That's the present. Understand the past was much better for you older guys.

AWACS/JSTARS IP/SEFE/FSO going on four years at regionals. No one knocking at my door.

Agreed...I'll be taking a course in Atlanta as soon as I get back from my deployment.

Might as well scratch Suddern off that list. 90% chance you'll end up getting hired into the 737, and that his is NOT home based. The commute is on you, and it's miserable. And you'll get heavily penalized if you miss your commute for whatever reason. Read the Southern Air thread for better insight. There's a reason their "yearly" turnover quotas are hit every quarter... Or every month, for that matter.

Atlas is a good carrier. "Best of the Worst" as they say. Lots of mil guys get on with them and either stay or move on quickly to greener pastures. I know a few that went to Delta.

As far as WGA? Well, you're new to the game, so you really don't know how badly they suck, because you've got nothing but your military background to compare them to... But they're about the worst of the worst. You'll figure it out eventually; I thought Southern Air was great until I woke up and pulled my head out of my @$$; and back then Suddern was run by the same crooks and shysters now running WGA.

APU in Cairo? Who needs it? It's a "crew convenience" item anyway. Let them roast!

Yeah, you'll make more money flying for a scumbag ACMI charter company than you would for a regional (at least, initially) but you'll pay for it, in spades. A pound of flesh, they say? More like ten.

True, the flying is more challenging (sorta) but the abuse is epic as well.

If the OP wants to stay in Atlanta, then there's really only one choice, and that's ASA/ExpressJet, with a concurrent app in at Delta at the same time. But you might as well apply at Atlas; at least there you'll be treated more like a human and less like steerage when you commute. Business Class makes all the difference in the world.

Network, go to job fairs and keep your nose clean and you'll most likely be wearing the Delta hat within a year.

As of now I'm not going to be able to get my ATP until February since I'm on a 6 month deployment...

Should I wait to start sending out resume's or start now? I have a bit of time. If I exit the Air Force it will not be until around September of 2016.

I would fill out airlineapps while you're deployed with an available date of sep 16 and just have something to update later. Not much else to do on deployments. Then again, with an available date that far out and no ATP, you likely won't make it through the computer filters to get looked at. But no downside in my opinion. Filling those out is a pain.

Oh that sucks if the military doesn't let you work the full 20 years if that's what you want...I always thought guys just leave by choice at the 12 year point or when their commitment is up...its 2 years for upt and then a 10 year commitment correct? That's 12 years so what's another 8 to get a decent pension forever with full benefits...That would really suck if they let you go when your really wanting to stay and looking forward to retirement...

I understand your view but a government pension is more secure than a job at Delta....Airlines just started doing well again after many years in turmoil...There is no guarantee in a position with any airline..Look at Pan Am, Eastern, TWA and many others....They were the 'deltas' of their day...