Johnny_Lim said: “A fighter pilot is a soldier. A soldier’s job is to defend his own country against enemy’s threat, which implies destroying enemy forces – taking lives. Deliberate attempt to destroying lives is very bad kamma. We are talking about human lives here. Interestingly, we do not see immediate rebirth of these people into hell for performing such unwholesome acts. Instead, they are reborn as human beings.”
As discussed in the post, “Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein“, a human bhava can last thousands of years, and one could be born many times with a human body during that time. Johnny probably knew, but forgot about that.
Only if one does an anantairya kamma (like killing parent or attaining a jhanic state, for example) that this rule will be broken.
– Someone who has killed a parent will be born in an apaya when this physical body dies, even if there is kammic energy for the human bhava remains.
– In the same way, one who has attained a (anariya/Ariya) jhana, will break the human bhava and will be born in the corresponding brahma realm at death.
The fighter pilot did not commit an anantariya kamma, even though it was a strong bad kamma. The rebirth process as a human will continue for him until the kammic energy for the human bhava runs out.
– But at the end the end of this human bhava, the next bhava will be determined by which past kamma (including those killings a soldier) will be the strongest. Cuti-patisandhi or the “grasping of a new bhava happens at that time.