Military (Reservist/Guard) Friendly Firms

Hello All,

I have decided to leave finance temporarily after I finish my two years of banking to pursue a childhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot. I love finance and am very intrigued by the subject but I do not think I can die peacefully knowing I passed up the opportunity to fly fighters. I will be going to the Air National Guard which is a part-time position. Based on the people I've talked to I should expect to be active duty for about 4 years to complete commissioning, flight training, and squadron seasoning. After that, I will be on part-time status as a traditional reservist and am looking to get back into finance. However, as a pilot I should expect to be flying around 8 times a month. Obviously this is a big commitment and with deployments on top of that, I can be out for weeks at a time.

I have experience working for a Corp Dev team of an MF PortCo, and have since been very intrigued by the PE industry. I have developed a network at the MF, but am a bit hesitant to reach out that I want to take a break from finance. I know it's much easier said than done to balance flying fighters and being an investor but I was wondering if anyone knew of any PE/VC shops who are military friendly and would tolerate someone who would have to work remotely during a drill weekend? I don't know if Aerospace and Defense/government focused funds would be better due to the cross-experience.

Additionally, I know many vets have experience after going to B-school as I'd be facing a 4-year gap from working in finance and B-school could bridge the gap between. I don't know if that's right for me as it would only be after 4- years of active duty without any tangible leadership experience. I probably would not have much saved and I don't know If I'm comfortable with taking out the loans for it. Would networking to go into the buy-side right after banking with the upfront intentions that I plan on taking a 4-year break within the next year to serve to be advisable? I know if I don't disclose it and then leave for military reasons I can not be fired for up to 5 years, but I don't think that's a great secret to keep from a firm you are trying to grow in.

Any advice would be very helpful.

disclaimer : I am not solely focused on getting into PE. I know I can't expect to be on the buy-side while balancing military commitments. I am making the choice to leave finance, thus I have accepted that I may have to do something else such as IB, CorpDev, Corp Finance, Bank Teller, whatever. I am just asking about PE/VC as this is a PE focused forum :)