True, but they gave up that choice when they presented themselves to the career office! I've lost friends civilian flying, they went to the airport that day wanting to do the best they could, full of motivation and good airmanship skills and for various reasons they were unlucky.
This is a rather pointless thread where no one answer or view point is more correct than the other. Let's just agree that we all love aeroplanes and we all love to fly and just try to respect all aviators regardless if civil or mil.