I heard that a lot of pilots come from the military. Is that a requirement?

Hello Ankur,
You would not be at a disadvantage, unless you want to work for a company that has military contracts and affiliations. NASA, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics might prefer the military background. As the others mentioned, the only real disadvantage is the cost of getting there.
I introduced a close friend of mine to the joy of flying, and he was hooked. He walked into his bank and took out a $50K loan and negotiated with a flight school, which got him the minimum basic ratings required to become a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). He landed his first job for a whopping $27K/year, not even enough to pay his loan. He struggled for the first couple of years building flight time, and finally made it into the airlines. He now flies a cargo 747 and loves every minute of it, with no regrets whatsoever. He is now living very comfortably, and it was all done thru the civilian route.
Discuss it with your family and ask for their support. Once you start flying, network and get to know everybody. A little hard work and perseverance, with the right attitude, will get you there . Good luck!

Hello Ankur,

I am a retired Air Force pilot. I have several friends in the Airline industry and I can tell you that you don't necessarily need to be from the military to get a job as an airline pilot. Some of my airline pilot friends have graduated from aviation oriented schools, such as Embry-Riddle, and others from regular universities with aviation related degrees. The advantage of being in the military is that you get all your flight experience for free. Well, maybe not free, but you don't have to pay for it. Your cost in the military is time and the military lifestyle, which will include deployments and non-flying related jobs. Becoming a commercial pilot will be a significant financial and time investment. Not only will you have to get your type ratings and Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license, but you'll also have to spend many years working in relatively low pay jobs to build up flight hours. Bottom line is that you don't need to be from the military to get an airline job, you just need to be ready to commit time and finances to become a commercial pilot. Good luck!

I am a pilot at a major airline and we have both military trained and civilian trained pilots. You can get here either way but as pointed out in the answer above, the civilian route will cost more. However, you can probably reach an airline career sooner since the military commitment is about 10 years.