Timing is everything. It's just whichever side of the wave you're on, whatever wave that happens to be.
Since OP joined the service about two years ago and is probably in his early-mid twenties, his former peers who went straight to a civilian professional pilot career probably got caught up in covid stagnation and I doubt many of them are working for big cargo or a major. Some of the ones who are a few years older might be at a LCC/ULCC where the pay and quality of life are typically pretty decent (or fairly senior at a regional, which is also a decent place to be for pay and QOL). Some of those straight civilian pilots have some magnificent debts and have to live pretty austerely to get to this point (not all of them went to an aviation college on mommy and daddy's money).
It could be ten years ago (housing bubble and recession), or twenty years ago (dot com bubble and 9/11), or thirty years ago (post-Cold War peace dividend era), or....
I get it though, if most of the last two years were dealing with HPCON, ROM, the base figuring out if you "need" to wear a mask to go for a run on base (or if the running trails are closed for "safety"), clicking through mind-numbing GMT and being told by middle management officers that GMT has improved a lot in just the last few years, incessant stand downs for everything, witnessing what a circus DoD aviation supply/logistics/support has become. Yeah, if I'd signed up to fly in the world's greatest fighting force then I'd feel uninspired and disillusioned these days too.
Each path has its ups and downs. Personally, my fortunes on the outside this past year straddled the middle ground. I know plenty of people who have it pretty great (as @Python1287 and @RedFive described) and plenty who were barely hanging on (as @zippy described). My military career was more ups than downs, plenty of stuff to be frustrated about in twenty years there, still I know plenty of people who got worse deals than I did.
Other responses have already covered work hard/get your quals and that's always sound advice.
My only other advice to @poseidon69$$$ is to look down the chain of command and do your best to make life better for your folks. Make sure they have a sense of purpose, that they know their work is meaningful and appreciated, and that they have someone looking out for them with the horsepower (rank) to help overcome the obstacles to them doing their jobs that they're not able to overcome at their level.
Since OP joined the service about two years ago and is probably in his early-mid twenties, his former peers who went straight to a civilian professional pilot career probably got caught up in covid stagnation and I doubt many of them are working for big cargo or a major. Some of the ones who are a few years older might be at a LCC/ULCC where the pay and quality of life are typically pretty decent (or fairly senior at a regional, which is also a decent place to be for pay and QOL). Some of those straight civilian pilots have some magnificent debts and have to live pretty austerely to get to this point (not all of them went to an aviation college on mommy and daddy's money).
It could be ten years ago (housing bubble and recession), or twenty years ago (dot com bubble and 9/11), or thirty years ago (post-Cold War peace dividend era), or....
I get it though, if most of the last two years were dealing with HPCON, ROM, the base figuring out if you "need" to wear a mask to go for a run on base (or if the running trails are closed for "safety"), clicking through mind-numbing GMT and being told by middle management officers that GMT has improved a lot in just the last few years, incessant stand downs for everything, witnessing what a circus DoD aviation supply/logistics/support has become. Yeah, if I'd signed up to fly in the world's greatest fighting force then I'd feel uninspired and disillusioned these days too.
Each path has its ups and downs. Personally, my fortunes on the outside this past year straddled the middle ground. I know plenty of people who have it pretty great (as @Python1287 and @RedFive described) and plenty who were barely hanging on (as @zippy described). My military career was more ups than downs, plenty of stuff to be frustrated about in twenty years there, still I know plenty of people who got worse deals than I did.
Other responses have already covered work hard/get your quals and that's always sound advice.
My only other advice to @poseidon69$$$ is to look down the chain of command and do your best to make life better for your folks. Make sure they have a sense of purpose, that they know their work is meaningful and appreciated, and that they have someone looking out for them with the horsepower (rank) to help overcome the obstacles to them doing their jobs that they're not able to overcome at their level.