Bose-x,
I agree with much of what you say, but I think the issue will not be recruitment, but rather retention. People need jobs to pay the Bills, and most will take what is on offer from Ascent as a quick and easy fix. However, it is clear from speaking to colleagues who already work for Ascent that their pay and t's and c's, leave policy etc are poor. Of course TUPE will protect the transferees, but given the planned syllabi, working hrs etc, people will quickly look elsewhere I suspect.
I have to wonder what will happen to those rearcrew protected by TUPE who find out they don't fit in the Juno?
If the mil hit their quota it might not matter too much, but the experience within DHFS is mostly civilian and these are the people that the system can least afford to lose (and Ascent are planning to make some of them redundant - but of course this reduces the wage bill .