Originally Posted by
flighthappens
I have heard this many times... “blame it on SDSR2010”. This was 8 years ago yet the situation has not remedied itself.
It has been 3 years since SDSR2015 (generally positive for the RAF) and even then the outcomes/timeline have not changed. Last I heard was people waiting up to 22 months after EFT. I know of many people who have taken over 8 years to serve FL FJ sqns.
The holding situation reflects extremely poorly on the RAF. It continues to create a very poor opinion of the service and eats away at much of the goodwill that young people have when the join.
What you say is largely true but it is a bit simplistic to blame the problems entirely on the RAF.
Other factors which need to be considered:
- The advent of MFTS. Whether or not you are an advocate of MFTS, the changeover is inevitably causing a variety of delays. Could it have been done better? Probably. How much control does the RAF have in this process? Not a great deal.
- SDSR 15 (which in fact is not much more than 2 years ago). By being, as you say, fairly positive for the RAF, it created enormous problems because we had only just got over the carnage of SDSR 10. Again, it doesn't matter whether or not you think either of the two SDSRs was sensible - the point is that we went from boom to bust and then back to boom in the space of five years.
- SDSR 18 (NSCR). The uncertainty regarding what will be announced later this year (apparently - we don't even know when we are going to know!) has made a lot of people wary of making significant effort or change which may be undone overnight. Rumours are rife about what may come out of it, but if there is any significant change from SDSR 15, there will be yet more turmoil which will be very little to do with either the Forces or Ascent. The only way to avoid this is to have some consistency from the pollies. Anyone for holding their breath?
Of course the RAF is seen as the guilty party, and yes the Service has played its part in the misery of those in training, but there is plenty else going on as well!