In the civil world, licensed aircraft maintenance engineers, are treated with respect, and receive remuneration commensurate with the level of their certification privileges.
Thanks
wotpb, I'm so glad to hear this. I was proud to hold the LAME licence and valued it more than my PPL/IR, maybe because I had to work so bloody hard to get it. All credit to the LAMEs out there, they deserve the respect you mention as well as the salary to honour it. I've long given up on the "engineer" who arrives to fix the washing machine, hook up the telephone wires, install the gas boiler etc etc.
My other regret is that the RAF or maybe its senior officers doesn't appear to follow the above precepts, and as for politicians ...