That's what I understood also. I have also heard though that there are 'Veteran's Preference Laws' in place to recognize veterans for their service and also to give them a chance to compete equitably for the positions. This applies to 'Eligible Military Veterans' from what I understand. I'm trying to find out the details so I can have the opportunity to apply for a CBP pilot position.
I don't know if that applies to the age limitation, due to the reason the age limitation is in place.
The thing about this job is that it's very difficult to have a full 20 year active-duty career as a military pilot and get this job, in fact, damn near impossible. You have to make a choice to go one way or the other. Meaning, if you're military, you have to make the choice to leave the active duty military early in order to take this gig. That's what me and every other person in this job has done, simply due to the requirement of age. I left the AF after 14 years, 13 on active duty, to take this job; transferring to the AFRES as a traditional and choosing to buy back into the GS retirement system instead. The only Vet preference I had, besides the flight qualifications, were the 10 points preference for hiring.
If you can somehow work a waiver, by all means go for it. I'm just afraid that it'll take quite a long time to make that happen in this case.