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But because they have pride and respect for themselves they cannot afford to work for less. What and who introduced pilots to be a never ending cheap resource? Pilots did. Self inflicted gunshot to the head. Someone somewhere sometime decided that a pilot is no longer a special person with special skills by selling himself cheap. Others followed. Now, we look at losers and winners. Why not move on to the next gig, sell out the police. Sell out the fire department. Sell out being a nurse, lawyer or dentist?
This is pretty funny to me. You have obviously never seen the pay rates in the Southeast. Fire Departments and Police Departments will never pay "well" (eye of the beholder) because it's a government job. Lawyers and dentists are paid well because most set their own prices. New pilots, on the other hand, are anxious to get their foot in the door and will work for peanuts because there is a prospect of getting paid well in the long run. It's just like any other career. You start at the bottom and work your way up.
As for a career in law enforcement, I spent 8 years at a large metro-Atlanta police department before leaving becoming an airline pilot. One thing is for sure, it is a calling...at first. Just like new pilots, you enter the career all wide eyed and bushy tailed barely making enough to pay the rent. Why?
Because it's what you want to do. I always think it's funny to hear new F/O's complaining about how much they get paid. Didn't they know the pay rate before they applied? Didn't they make the necessary financial calculations before they got hired?
The first 5 years of law enforcement are great fun. Then the newness wears off and you realize it's not so fun anymore, it's a job. Worse yet, you deal with the worst of society day in and day out which makes you very jaded about people in general. You have to go to work each day and remind yourself that somebody may try to kill you. So after 8 years of working all three shifts, being a fatality crash investigator, a Field Training Officer and a Senior Patrolman, I was making about $45K a year. If anybody decides to get into policing, just remember it's not all high speed chases and shootouts. The benefits are good and the camaraderie is unparalleled but don't think it's a cake walk. Police work is 95% monotony and paperwork. The other 5% is frenzied and chaotic.