Sorry for posting my thoughts here.
I was told about this forum via a friend who is in the same boat as me, her husband is also a member of HLS, and going through the same thing as mine. My husband is an Engineer on the newly formed HLS at lyneham and in 20 years of him being the the RAF I have never once had him say "I dont want to go to work" until now. He is constantly short tempered and cannot sleep while he is on shift due to the stress this new system is putting on him.
This system was also implemented just before Christmas which meant that the usual xmas spirit has been non existant. Plus, no leave was allowed due to the swapping of shifts etc which has seriously dented the moral of the few lads I have met since this was started. They all felt proud of their respected squadrons when they found a Squadron identity when the J's and K's got a number (24/30eng and 47/70eng) but again, they have been made to sound like quick fit fitters again with a title 'HLS' which the lads have named 'Hercules Laughing Stock'
My husband feels that he has no direction and cannot lead his men due to the fact that this radical change of the usual working practise means everyone feels lost. He feels that he no longer belongs and that the new system leaves the Sgt's feeling useless as their lads come to them for information, but they cannot provide it as they are out of the loop as they are not trade managers anymore.
As for the posts here about working both aeroplanes it isnt whats happening as my husband says the aircraft are so radically different that its impossible for the lads to work on each others aircraft without specialist training.
My husband has been on Squadrons thoughout his career and it always made him proud. It was amazing that being on a Squadron gave them all an identity which bred pride and comaradery which kept the lads chins up even when the chips were down. Lyneham is the first place Ive heard of in 16 years of being an Air Force wife where the ground crew and aircrew are two seperate entities and it shows in the moral and the identity of the lads. They now have no pride, no interest, no moral, and most of all no clue of whats going on (as no formal briefings were held to inform Sgts and below on what was going on)......and thats from someone who see's the lads and lasses from the outside.
Like I said, I'm sorry for posting this but I have been so worried about my husband and the things that have been going on. All I hope is that thing don't get so bad that we have an accident where someone is killed because of a system that has been rushed into place for no apparent reason.