The late Mr Suggs...
He was quoted as saying that he could get all the pilots he needed by waving a $5 bill on Bourbon Street. I read that in some magazine and I think it was an accurate quote.
Well, that was then and this is now. I remember, back in the early Seventies, meeting a guy running a car-wash and another selling garage door-openers who had both done one or two tours in Viet Nam on helicopters. At that time I had not even got my private license and I (very naively) couldn't understand why someone would drop out of aviation.