When it all changed.
When AVM Mark Green (then AOC 22 Gp) came to RAF Valley in 2010 to talk to everyone about the upcoming SDSR and redundancies he made it clear to us all that his plan was to get rid of the older guys (the QFIs) and spare the students. History will tell us that he didn’t get his way and hundreds of students were made redundant.
What did happen though was a generation of very disgruntled students were born and every QFI there realised that they were entirely expendable. Certainly my mindset changed overnight and I knew I could no trust the organisation that I had invested so much time in.
It is no accident that, shortly afterwards, I left Valley and so started a run of three overseas flying tours in different Air Forces, with a brief return to Valley in between. What I learnt, sadly, was that the only times I felt truly appreciated in my 23 years in the RAF was when I was serving in or alongside a foreign Air Force.
Maybe it’s because I’m a white male but I learned that nobody in the RAF cared if I stayed so I left to ply my trade elsewhere. And this comes from someone who always assumed I would serve until I was 60.
BV