My CFI for my private was a prior-service Naval officer and got hired into an F-16 Guard unit. He didn't know anyone in the unit, had no sponsors or anything. He did contact and apply with virtually every Guard fighter unit in the country until he found one interested in him. The very first one he applied to told him that they wouldn't even consider him without at least a PPL, so he went out and dropped $7k and did it in 3 wks. After that, he kept going and got his CFI before he got hired. Lucky bastidge just graduated from Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training at Sheppard AFB, TX and is working his way through IFF, then on to F-16 FTU at Luke AFB, then survival, then back to his Guard unit for 18 months of "seasoning". Then hopefully, on to a regional.
With the 10 yr commitment required of active-duty pilots, I tell everyone I come in contact with who's interested in a civilian flying career to go guard or reserve. MUCH better deal. They're hiring, too--with the increased likelihood of deployments due to greater integration of the guard and reserve into the AEF model, they're seeing greater turnover than before, and fewer active-duty types trying to join (which means more entry-level slots). There's a book out there somewhere on how to go about getting a pilot slot with guard and reserve units, do a search for it and check it out.