Bob V
Good posts.
20+ years ago I was on a course. Guest speaker was DG (Finance). He called for debate on the latest proposal from the Treasury that unless one was 'current' in one's chosen profession, then you should be out on your ear. All 24 of us had to argue the case, one way or the other.
To his surprise, 23 thought it bollix, the only disenter being a Naval Architect. ('Nuff said). Many were pilots, and I recall one making your point. He'd been a Commander RN for a couple of years, no longer flew regularly (but often enough), and had been posted to Merlin to provide piloty expertise. And very good he was too. I was a bum airframe/electrical fitter trained on thermionic valves, and wasn't up to date on digital circuit design, but that didn't make me a bad project manager. And so on. The last guy was Director Special Projects, a Brigadier and lately CO Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment). He agreed with us, but added, 'I'm just a grunt infantryman, trained to kill. I'm current'. DG(Fin) went quiet and said goodbye. Never heard any more about it. But you do get these beancounter-esque suggestions now and again.
Last edited by tucumseh; 21st Mar 2019 at 13:37.