It may be more than lack of ex-military, another trend is "direct to Jet" training options that sidestep the other traditional path to ATPL, PPL > instrucotr - bank check runs etc.
I presume the (relatively) recently introduced Multi-crew Pilot License (MPL) requirements are common knowledge on this board...? I'm sure you're all very capable of Googling "MPL", but the hard fact is that a MPL-trained pilot can be sitting in the right-hand set of a commercial flight (cabin full of passengers) with a minimum of 6 (yes, SIX) take-off and landings in a 'real' aircraft (with an additional 6 in a Level D full-flight sim). What could possibly go wrong...
Talk about direct-to-jet.
- GY