First nice crj1000. Common man what are you worth? As much as a kid selling cell phones in the mall? Your just lucky you have a job right? thought so.

Exactly.

Good post fosters.

It's called "golden handcuffs." I know many regional captains who spend their whole paycheck and can't afford to start over at a major. They'll make more money there in the long run, but they can't take the pay cut in the short term.

That example amy work in the civilian world, but in the military, its totally different. Yes, the military promotes progresion. For one thing, if a guy just stayed in his position for 20 years, ther ewould be no room for new soldiers. Secondly, the military is about leadership. Thats the nature of the job. When you are a new private out of basic you are taught to take over for your squad leader if he gets killed. I guess you wee comming from an AF pilot perspective. Well, the Air Force isnt an airline. Youare an officer first and a pilot second. The Chief of Staff of the Air Force probably flies minimally if at all anymore. When he became a 2LT he was groomed to be a leader and thats what he rose to be As with other commanders. The culture of the military is that of leading and progressing from wher youare. A lot of civilian jobs dont have that mindset and thats cool but youcant compare the military to civilain workforce.

But to answer your question about the regionals,somebody told me (because obviously I have no idea) that regionals dont want you to stay ther efor a career. They want you to come in, build your time and leave. Its epensive for them to pay a 20 year Captain. They would rather see you leave.

Now, personally I wouldnt mind making a carer at a regional airline. $75-90K is not bad too me.

Another way its like the military... you got to the base and you see the escalades, the bmw, the hummer,, and then you see the old reliable honda, the kia, and a couple other beaters.... guess whos cars are whos?? you guessed it!!! the enlisted guys drive the nice cars (they take their entire sign on bonus and blow it on stupid stuff), and the officers drive the beaters. who makes more money?? the officers of course, but you wouldn't know it by looking at their cars,, (that is of course they are a general).

my point?? sure you may have the money right now, but that doesn't mean you need to spend every last dime! lucky for me money doesn't burn a hole in my pockets!

I think the professor's point was that we need to change our thinking. It costs millions of dollars to train a military pilot (and his/her replacement); many would rather stay in the cockpit for a career. Not all can or want to be generals. The concept of Limited Duty Officer exists in many militaries throughout the world. Tell someone that they can fly that fighter for twenty years, never be promoted above Major until they make LtCol. the day they retire. There will be a lot of takers who go to an airline the day they have twenty years of service.

There is a Flaw in your thinking.

First off I flew for many years in the Military and when I was young, I felt the same way. Just let me fly my fighter all I want and I'll stay.

Being older and wiser now, here is what would happen.
If there was such a Policy, the True Pilots would be the ones who would stay in the squadron and the Weak Dicks or candy asses would be the only ones going to high level schools and getting the command jobs.

No real fighter pilot wants to go to Command and Staff college or Army War college and then do a staff tour in the Pentagon or some other Pencil pushing job.

The problem is you want GOOD pilots (real warriors) in some of those Jobs. If the only ones who take those jobs are the Candy Asses or Butt Sharks as we use to call them they will be the ones who run things. Do you want every Senior Officer to be some weak dick candy ass...........that is what you would end up with because with your suggested program, all the good pilots would stay at the Field grade level or below and then get out.............

Never met any of those "wdca's" and "bs's" during a USAF career. Good pilots don't necessarily make great leaders and great leaders may or may not be great pilots. In fact some of the best Commanders I met were navigators. The REAL Warriors are all military crewmember risking their life on a daily basis in the combat zone. It has nothing to do with crew seat, aircraft type or service.