BEags,
I thought that MDR was the basics!
Don't forget that all FJ guys in the training system are striving towards that bounced SAP at the end of 19 Sqn where a tgt has to be hit +/- 5 sec without any kit except a map and stopwatch! Must have been the same in your day and I'm sure that you remember this is obviously achieved by making drift and groundspeed corrections on the hoof to reach your waypopints. Not an easy task in mountainous terrain at 420 kt reacting to weather / aggressor jets etc etc.
Obviously this is a cold-war way to fight a mission but nevertheless a great way to test capacity and the RAF's only option until a modern jet trainer is available. Clearly the build up to this begins at EFT when you're flogging around in a Grob. To learn these techniques at the start of your RAF career is essential!
I see MDR as a critical test of capacity and skill in the training world - any monkey can plan a route before you get airborne (with or without a Dalton computer) but when the plan goes to rat-**** because your turn points are weathered out, that's when you start earning your money!
Back to my first point; MDR is the basics! The advanced stuff is surely leading a COMAO with night AAR, some TST, being tapped by some fags at LL all on the goggs beneath an overcast layer in no millilux in the Highlands!
