Lots of my friends in Naval Aviation got out after one or two tours and went commercial, with three to four thousand hours of multi-engine jet time under their belts. If you're going from "cold iron civilian" to an ATP, figure on close to 100 large and you still won't have anywhere near the experience military pilots bring to the table.
That said, there IS a huge pilot shortage so standards are becoming less, almost like in the mid-60s, where a couple of hundred hours in a Cessna would get you in the door of a major airline and they would train you. Good luck
While the pilot shortage is real, it also seems that what people are willing to pay for a pilot isn't what it should be.
I know I didn't have the hours to get serious consideration at any position I felt would pay benefits from all the training hours and certifications... And I had 1500 hours single, multi, and instrument.
We used to joke that you could land a job flying a 6 million dollar aircraft and make $40k a year doing it.
I seriously considered going deep, but the more I hung around FBO's and became close with many commercial pilots, I realized the money incentive just wasn't equaling the cost. You have to really just want to fly... that seemed to be the reward in a career of aviation.
