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Advice needed. I am a E-5 soldier, currently in Illinois ARNG. I want to become an airline pilot and I want to continue serving in ARNG. Option1. Recently I became very curious on how to become an Aviation Warrant Officer in ARNG. From what I understand an aviator is busy, more than one weekend a month. Putting together a packet for WOFT will take me at least 1 year. Graduating Ft. Rucker and coming back to my unit - another 2 years. So, in about 3-4 years I will have ~ 200 hours of rotary wing experience. And slowly start getting my ratings for fixed wing (2 years maybe). Option 2. I will continue doing the one weekend a month, doing what I am doing, and start throwing my money and get my fix wing PPL. After that, with my money and GI Bill (on VA website they said VA will pay only $12k - $13k a year) I can get all my ratings and qualifications up to multi engine with in about 2 years of hard work. Probably I will have ~ 280 - 300 hours of fix wing experience. Option 3? Is there any way I can combine option 1 & 2? Is being an aviator in the ARNG a bonus, or will drag me back for whatever reason (schedule, responsibilities, etc...)? If God knows how and I get those 1200 - 1500 hours and I I can apply for airlines, they will have a problem hiring me knowing that they have to share me with the ARNG and mess with their schedule more often then they like to? Are there any pilots here that are doing both, ARNG Aviation and flying for airlines (if this is a thing) and would like to share their experience, I will greatly appreciate it. I am missing something? I don’t mind any corrections if I said something that is not true or real, I am looking for advice for my specific situation. Thank you.

I am 16 years old, and I want to begin flight training. I originally wanted to be a fixed wing pilot, as they make significantly more money than helicopter pilots, at least at the airline level. However, I was only able to get the special issuance medical from the FAA. I have read that the major airlines only hire people with "unrestricted" medicals. If this is true, then I may never reach airline-level salaries anyway. In this case, the salary advantage of fixed wing may not apply to me, which is why I'm now considering rotor-craft training. It is hard for me to say which one I prefer, as I have only been in one helicopter. I am more familiar with airplanes, and the training is a lot cheaper. However, because the training is more expensive, there are fewer helicopter pilots. This means it is probably easier to find a job, especially considering I have medical conditions. Helicopter airlines might be more lenient. If it weren't for the medical conditions, I would just go for fixed-wing. I can't be sure that major airlines would hire me with this special issuance. It would be nice to have a definitive answer to this, as it's a tad risky to spend thousands on flight training to no avail. Even if they would hire me, it's probably a good idea to try and get the unrestricted medical. I'm not sure if I can, however. So, what should I do?