On first entering the professional pilot world, I too couldn't understand why airlines were so hung up on hours. Now that I have them, I see why. The more experience/time in the flight deck the better I perform, whether it's day-to-day to achieve a safer flight and save fuel or in the sim using the experience not to make the same mistakes.
As for military vs. civvy argument, I understand the two worlds are very different and require different skills. In the other words I would not want a fast jet pilot to command on a civilian flight without experience and vice versa for the civvy pilot in the fast jet. You just can't compare that way.
