Originally Posted by
Red Line Entry
My regular Service spans from the 80s to the 20s and the attitude displayed by WhoNeedsANav is one that I remember all too clearly from the early days of my time. The attitude of hiding things under the carpet, breaking the rules and sorting things out ‘unofficially’ with a chat (or a percussive interview behind the hangar) was prevalent across the Service. Bullying, often disguised as banter, was rife and I could name several VSOs whose behaviour was little more than abuse (in at least one case, sexual).
The RAF today is a million light years from the RAF I joined and while I sometimes get nostalgic for long-closed bases or aircraft types, for Friday happy-hours, sports afternoons or flaming pianos, there is no doubt that the Service of today is a fairer, more open, tolerant and frankly, nicer place to live and work than it was 30+ years ago. And, without doubt, it is also populated with people who are every bit as dedicated, professional and brave as have ever worn our monarch’s uniform.
I would say that when I was serving people were queuing out the door to join the RAF and the only kind of manning issues I experienced was rather unpleasant compulsory redundancies.
These days it's seems recruitment and retention is a major cause for concern and I do wonder why.
People say what they think others want to hear, but they will do what is in their best interests. No doubt there are lots of people walking the corridors of the ever dwindling number of bases the RAF still have, repeating this dogma that the air force is a much better place but quietly plotting their exit strategy.
But then who can really blame them, certainly not me. I just don't believe you when you say the RAF is a better place. If it was then people wouldn't be leaving. And if it was more tolerant then they have a funny way of showing it by making it clear they don't want white male applicants. That's is open and blatant racism, so much so that even a VSO resigned over it, showing that there are still some people with integrity (but unfortunately in this case leaving).