I can confirm what Sally Cinnamon says.
This is all true and the reason why I am looking into the whole subject as deeply as possible. The key is the reduction from 3 years to 1 year (and possibly less if you are lucky ) to become "discharged". I have yet to get professional advice and I obviously will before I take the leap.
Many thanks for the replies, to refer back to my first post; does anybody know what the implications could be recruitment wise ? My head says nothing, my paranoia says something else...
I may have come to the end of the road financially but I don't want to give up my dream !!