I'm with Stupid,
I think that you mioght find that your friend with 2 months leave (unpaid of course!) only has himself to blame..
Ask yourself this question...
If you were offered a job with a start date of say the end of April, but decided to do the endorsement and resign early would you do it?
How would you feel if you played by the rules and someone did exactly that and jumped in in front of you? What if that person then got a crack at a command earlier than you because they had an earlier start date? Would you be happy?
NO? Well now you know why that person has two month unpaid leave.
I wonder if your friend is the same person that rang one of the very senior check and training management people and gave him an earfull...a career limiting move if I ever saw one!!
Think about how an employer would view an employee that rings up a management pilot and gives him a blast when he hasn't even started his employment yet!!