Don't do it

[Nocturnal1]

Are u crazy!!! Stay in

 

[Bjammin]

Get OUT!!!!!!!
Best move I EVER made. Boozing in Hong Kong as we speak, made 50% more money last year then I ever did in the Navy as an O-4, 6 weeks of vacation every year, NO ground job, and more days off a month then I ever had. BTW, no fitreps, no deployments, no bucking for command. JUST A GREAT JOB!!!!!! Geeettttt OOOuuuuTTTT!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hindsight2020]

Get OUT!!!!!!!
Best move I EVER made. Boozing in Hong Kong as we speak, made 50% more money last year then I ever did in the Navy as an O-4, 6 weeks of vacation every year, NO ground job, and more days off a month then I ever had. BTW, no fitreps, no deployments, no bucking for command. JUST A GREAT JOB!!!!!! Geeettttt OOOuuuuTTTT!!!!!!!!!!

Your example is not representative of the outcome the median separating pilot, or any pilot outright, would be able to benefit from. From a cursory anecdotal poll I've done among my peers in the AD AF (I'm Reserves and do not pursue civilian aviation professionally, only recreationally) most are simply staying in. These cats make way too much money for what they do, and they privately admit it. If your wife is an anesthesiologist and you can afford to walk away and do nothing, sure, that beats all the AF hassle any day of the week and twice on Sunday. But when you're the primary income winner and you married "for love" and the wife makes squat? Yeah, civilian aviation won't put you on the black, post-military life, with screaming kids and tired wife in tow.

But I suspect you already knew all this, you just like to throw out that the gamble worked for ya. And that's awesome, good on ya, but we gotta qualify your answer before it's misinterpreted as useful to the median jack.

 

[Mamma]

I got out and am loving every day of it. The airline job is not quite what I expected but it is what it is. The Reserves are great in that I still get to fly military planes around the world and have my squadron buds to hang out with. Also, my family life is stable. I look at my buds who stayed in and the crap they are going through....deployments, 12 hour days when home, tedious desk jobs and the uncertainty of their future. Yeah, I'm glad I punched.