There is one very good reason why military pilots on average, as a generalisation, tend to perform better in the many facets of being professional pilots after they leave the military.
A very tough selection process is applied to them regarding academic, medical, psychological, psychometric and physical fitness, as well as intense interviews to establish whether the candidates have military leadership qualities.
All this and more, such as establishing whether the candidate can take discipline during intensive basic "soldier stuff" before he/she is allowed near an aircraft to learn flying skills which are only part of what is required of a serving officer or N.C.O. who must exercise leadership and set a good example.
During the pilot training at taxpayers' expense, each phase of training is allocated a budget of flying hours and if a candidate is struggling with some aspect, a small amount of extra training might be given followed by dismissal from the course for those not making the grade.
Dismissal rates vary, but up to a third of those who start flying training might not complete it. Compare this with civilian trainees who can keep on repeating failed check rides as often as their bank accounts will allow.
I've seen several civilian ex flying instructors fail to make the grade in the demanding offshore all-weather IFR multi-engined helicopter operations, but I've also had the privilege of flying with hundreds of self-funded civilian pilots who would match up to the best the military can produce.
The offshore helicopter operators where I operate have very thorough selection procedures which filter out most of the poor candidates, but in almost 30 years I've seen a very small handful of civilian trainees get through the net only to fail. However I've never seen an ex military pilot fail, while the numbers from both training backgrounds have been similar.
Finally the age-ist 'baloney' spouted at the beginning of this thread is just that. We all get thorough medical and flight checks at regular intervals, also being put through the simulator 'wringer' every 6 months. I'm one of those past 60 already and we older pilots don't fare worse (or better) than the younger ones. I suggest you remember that everyone including you is subject to 'anno domino' and you might also want continuity of career when you reach the same age.
Last edited by Colibri49; 8th Sep 2010 at 20:01.