[Hacker15e]

In my time in the USAF, both as a maintainer and as an aviator, I've never been "walked on" to the extent that airline management walks on labor groups (as it has been described to me by people who live it).

Not even in the same league.

As I've described before, military aviators don't understand the pilot union concept because we are bred in an environment where the leadership DOES care about us. Where things like crew rest, qualifications, and mission safety are things that the leadership is heavily vested in. We operate in an environment where the military tries to shield us from FAA violations (as in items on the flight plan being "on file" at home station, instead of written on the plan for prosecution use).

So, we don't have the mentality that the leadership is trying to shaft us. We don't think of "management" as the enemy...but simply the people who we fly for while they are the #####screens for us.

Military guys need the reasons for a pilot union explained to them, because it doesn't make sense based on everything they've known since day one as a student.

That being said...once it IS explained, there's no question why.