Worth noting that previous command is only good for so long.

I know of a couple of examples where former high hours in the left hand seat pilots, have gone long haul wide body right hand seat, only to find that they spent long enough as an FO to be deemed out of recency to go direct entry short haul command .

Type ratings laps, recency lapses, and ultimately time not spent in the left, dealing with the stress and making those decisions, disappears too. Airlines know this, so I would say a foray to a different carrier to fly wide body, would have to be a short one to increase chances of keeping a command on a return to short haul / new carrier.

Any Captain position, is preferable to any F/O position..IMHO. At some of these big outfits, having to wait 20 years for a command, for example is not good. A lot of the command mentality is lost, for good.
The younger you are the better
However, command may not be for everyone. Everyone is not suitable for command .
I have known weasel "Captains" blame the F/O when there has been a screwup. The buck stops with the P in C. Responsibility , cannot be delegated. "If the cap fits, wear it."

Props to you pal, glad you got the right side of the coin toss you faced 3 years ago!

I agree!
 

the 777 and 787 do look beautiful, but the hard reality of the prospect of looking out those windows, usually deep water, for hours on end kept peeping up in my background thoughts.

The 737 carries the max fuel I could manage: max 5 hours before one could at least get out and walk around the aircraft and breathe the local air, before the 5 hours back home, to your car, your house, your bed, with your partner, children, cat or dog, or alone.

Just flew ANC-IAD in a 737, almost 8 block and it was a redeye, in a small cramped cockpit. Not saying I would prefer longhaul, but it often more than 5 for me.

aux fuel tanks then?
 

5 was a “long” flight for our base. 4 something to the Canaries and Athens and Rhodes were the other “long” routes. Plenty for me.

it only took a few 8 or more hour flights in the Herc to remove all the “glamour” from longhaul flight in my estimation.

It really depends what you're flying. The 737 is small and cramped compared to the 777 with a bunk. Having flown both long and short haul at the same time you definitely become accustomed to the type of flying you're doing and an 8 or 9 hour flight can fly by quickly. When you go from that to SH a 1 or 2 hour sector seems instantaneous. Return to LH and an 8 hour sector feels like forever, but after a couple you get used to it again.

Not to mention…
 

The long term health effects of short sectors vs long haul.