Hi, I’m a 17 year old private pilot who wants to be an airline pilot and fly part time in the Air Force Reserve. I’m wondering if I should start working toward commercial or instrument ratings. I have some money saved up and my parents will be able to pay for some. I’m wondering if working as a commercial pilot in college will pay for itself as opposed to working at Starbucks or something. I’m very eager to continue my flight education, but I don’t want to waste money, especially if the AF is going to train me. What are your thoughts?
Edit: I also want an excuse to build hours 
First, congratulations. My instructor’s advise following my checkride was “now you have a license to go out and scare yourself AND take a friend with you.”
About all you are realistically going to be able to do in College is flight instruct. Is it worth it to spend the money if the AF is going to do it all over again? If you were going to be a full time AF pilot probably not, but like you said you will be continuing to learn and build hours. Flying in the reserves won’t get you a lot of flight time towards that airline job so doing some civilian flying will definitely help there.
The military way of doing things is a lot different so be ready for that. As far as I know flying for the Guard or reserves requires almost a full time commitment until you are finished with their training.
