Some quick counter-points, just to cut down on the hyperbole:
Let it be said that statistically, it is much easier to get a pilot slot by going to the Academy than by cold rushing Guard units as an off-the-street guy. Going straight to flying in the Guard is what I would recommend to young guys as well, but I also mention that this route often includes a detour as an E in the unit while you go to college so you can build up the type of relationships typically required to be hired in the first place.
A) The exit rate is obviously not 99%, but you know that. B) An O-4 on flight pay at any location in the United States makes more than first year airline pay. Your pay potential is much higher at the airlines and you catch back up and exceed AD pay quickly, but don't pretend like you don't have to take an initial pay cut going from AD to the airlines. C) Everywhere has nonsense, you sometimes get to choose your flavor and even more rarely, the amount.
20 years ago was 1996 for those of us who can do math. Are you seriously saying that the USAF of 1996 was led by more "warriors" than today? By what metric? The most senior dudes back then like the CSAF took part in Vietnam, but the average O-6 of 1996 likely did not or did so very briefly. Today's average O-6 has had the opportunity to see combat time in Afghanistan/Iraq/Libya/Syria/GWOT et al, and that opportunity has been sustained unlike almost any other conflict in our nation's history.
I'll give you that today's leaders are not exactly Moses leading us to the Promised Land by virtue of their occasional dips into CTZE zones and that a Viper doing NTISR over Afghanistan isn't the same as running an F-4 over North Vietnam, but I'm just trying to call out some obvious fallacies in your argument.
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For reference against my advice below, I am an '07 year group AFSOC CSO currently in the Guard after doing AD, so YMMV considerably.
My answer to the OP is that flying for the Air Force was absolutely worth it for me and I'd do it all over again mostly the same way. I flew with great people, made some humble but tangible contributions to the nation's security and efforts to combat global terrorist organizations, and was paid well and learned a lot while I was at it. Many of my civilian friends from high school and college have nice lives and careers, but their answer to, "So...what have you been up to for the last 10 years?" isn't nearly as good as mine.
My career luck and timing was good in once sense (missed that whole "huge recession thing" while I was suckling Uncle Sugar's teet), but bad in others (I left active duty frustrated and somewhat burned out after 8 deployments and being sent on an assignment that I had 7-day opt'd...not what I was expecting).
Learning to be as stoic as you can about life was helpful...control what you can, including how you react to the things you can't control.
On the back side now with 2 years mostly in the civilian world under my belt, I'm looking forward to getting back into the fight via my new home in the Guard and I have a better appreciation for the idea that things have a way of working themselves out exactly the way they were supposed to.
BL: Decide for yourself whether you'd rather heal the sick or fly, fight and win, and then give one of those your 100%. Talk to both doctors and pilots in real life and used their advice to inform your decision. Good luck!