I don't have any burr under my saddle about the airlines, other than maybe the way you pump it up so much. Okay, I get it, you fly A LOT. Is flying the whale really harder than ACM, LAT, CQ, and all the other things we do in the military? Like you said, I haven't done it. Maybe I'll be trying for it someday and find out. I just have a hard time buying the idea that some guy who went to Embry-Riddle, got his spurs at flying Saabs and Fokkers and is now at the majors in "THE SHOW," is somehow at the pinnacle of aviation, while I'm flying NVG LAT into an LZ so dusty I can't see 5 feet from the aircraft and I'm not. Screw that guy. Just sayin'.
I'm no kidding wondering what the big deal is about this "Show" you speak of is. I'm really not being a smart-ass on this. Is it the hours you get? There are other flying jobs that rack up the hours. Is it flying long distances? Okay, but lots of military aircraft do that. Is it that it's a big freakin' plane? Again, the gun club has some of those too. I'm just not getting the difference. Don't just tell me I'll "understand it if I ever get there," or some line like that. I've seen airline captains and talked to a couple here and there. Whatever they are, they aren't magical creatures--seemed rather ordinary, actually.
As far as this thread, I really just don't buy the either/or argument you're making. I just don't believe all those guys who left in the '70s were making some big moral stand on behalf of the warrior ethos or something. Maybe some did, but just as a student of human behavior, I'm thinking most just said,"It sucks working here. See ya." Today we've got some different dynamics going on, but I think it's BS to say anyone staying in is selling out. They've just decided that fighting Hadji is more fun than flying the run from Chicago to Milwaukee or whatever. I have a hard time seeing how bailing is more honorable than that. Nothing wrong with serving your contract honorably and getting out, but it's not some big act of moral courage.
I'm not starting a fight or being a smart-ass. Really. I'm just not one of the kiddies here who thinks that A4s has the stone tablets, is coming down from the mountain, and everyone has to sit down and shut up. I really want to know the deal, not the "you'll know when you've done it" routine. I haven't been around the world, but I've been around the block, so I think my mental abilities able to understand.