You need to ask this over at Airwarriors. Then you won't have a bunch of bitter AF pilots trying to talk you out of going AD. In 10 years those guys will be bitter airline pilots.

I know things have changed, but I would not trade my 10 years of military flying for 10 years of more seniority at my current highly coveted flying gig.

I'm pretty sure I know this guy. He went into the ANG to fly A-10s. He heard so many stories from other AA pilots about flying in the ANG, he wanted to do it. He took a military leave, so there was no loss of seniority.

^^^ This ^^^

It is an excellent point. To be really honest, 40 years seems almost too long to spend flying 121. Besides look at how any pilots will have to push the airline seniority reset button along the way. Seniority is an IOU that may or may not be worth anything in the long run. It often acts like golden handcuffs. If you have a dream to fly fighters, then seriously ask yourself if you will regret not trying. Also jumping into AD with both feet will allow an experience in the tactical community that you won't find going directly to the part time reserves.

All the best!
SP

GO military and don't look back... We had a commuter guy when I went through training.. He CRUSHED the program and went fighters.. You can go fly *****ing passengers any time.. You have one shot at greatness.. it's not easy, and don't let your experience fool you into complacency.. Go for it.. ANG is a great idea... go fighters or attack helos, or something cooler than flying a 121 line.. Heavies are cool.. but if you can get a seat in a fighter.. Why not?

Your flying experience will translate into phenomenal training grades. That means you will be able to choose the pipeline you want. Military flying was the best experience of my life.

Excuse me if this has been addressed already, but if you go into the military it isn't just changing flying careers, it is agreeing to sacrifice your actual life if called upon to do so. You pose the question as if it were simply a career question, but have you considered the possibility of being taken prisoner, tortured, maimed or killed? Your question seems to be what can I get out of being in the military, when the question is what can the military get out of you. It is called military service, afterall.

Neither would I.

This is a legit point, although I tend to assume that an adult aviation professional (vice a HS student) asking about the military is aware of and has considered all that.

So long as he keeps an open mind and attitude in check.

I have seen more than one experienced regional pilot nearly wash out of Phase II because of their "that's not how things are done in the real world..." attitude and refusal to do things the way Big Blue wants them to.