Originally Posted by
GICASI2
If you are an example of a junior Officer of recent years, I am glad to have left when I did. You really do not understand what your Commission conferred. You have your idea of duty completely inverted - you should have been an inspiration to those junior to you. Aircraft Commander - this term belongs firmly in BA-speak ‘to fly, to serve’. Laughable. You obviously live in a different world to the very many outstanding serving and ex-RAF officers I have had the pleasure of knowing, leading and flying with.
It seemed to work well over 16 years deployed multiple times flying and into Afghanistan, Iraq and Central Africa.
I really do understand what it conferred - but nothing is more important than the role as Aircraft Commander, which with it confers leadership and motivation, esprit de corps within that role and operating as a crew. I've met a few where the triangle was the other way around and it very often led to them coming a cropper. People identify far more as Crew working together as a unit from within a Squadron. I found regularly that loyalty outside structures of the Squadron was non-existent. To be honest, I don't have an issue with that.