If your going to pick a community based on the amount of hours you are going to get for the airlines- do not pick P-3s. Gone are the days of 40hr months on the homecycle and 1800hr first tours. The norm that I've seen on homecycle is typically between 15-20hrs a month (pilot time). High hours guys are leaving with approx 1300hrs- the norm is closer to 1000hrs. Of course there are exceptions to this depending on how many deployments/surges you get, and where you get sent to. For example. I got about 350 on my first deployment, and know others who got 100 (in 7 months) and mid 400s. All 3 of us were on different deployments. I've also had a couple of 8hr months on the home cycle as well. Its hit or miss really.
How long are your missions? 1000 hours in a tour means an average of a little over 20 hours/month. If your missions are as long as I thought they were, that means you're flying maybe once a week (4-6 hours/hop?). I don't know, just asking.