Thanks for those replies, every little helps!
Yeah I read the 10-12 day trips, that's certainly a long time away as I've not really done more than 8-9 days at most before. But if rostering is done right it can burn a lot of hours and result in long periods home.
Time to command is more like time to a good pay rise, the command in itself isn't really the goal, but sounds like it'll be long in any case!
When looking for a new job I guess there's two bits to it. The black and white hard facts, like pay and perks. Then the other bit that you can't read in a contract. How you're treated, the feeling in the company, how tiring the roster is, the standard of living down route etc. That's where the taking to forums and calling contacts that have contacts etc come in to play, so thanks for the info that you can share.