quote "Vote with your feet"
I did - and I can't recommend it enough! Also, I see my family more and sleep much better now that I have left Rompers Green!
However, while the grass is a different shade of green on the outside, I don't hear such levels of disquiet from the engineers this side of the fence as there is at Lyneham.
Besides, I thought the J/K Lines had worked pretty damn well since their inception, so why mess with them? I have always had a great admiration of the engineers but I thought that the increased integration via the 24/30 and 47/LXX Lines certainly helped to break down some of the more traditional aircrew/groundcrew barriers - despite constant OOA ops over the last 5 years. Regrettably, the new change is so obviously driven by Treasury-enforced budget cuts. It is NOT about 'improved efficiency' as DefSec and CDS keep wittering on about. Do they really think we are so daft as to believe their spin?
My advice to all who believe flight safety is being compromised - be it working hours, working practices, Resource Management, lack of communication, poor morale or just plain lack of trust/involvement (perhaps even all of the above) - THEN PUT IT IN WRITING -
Try a Human Factors Report or a Murphy/Condor with the SFSO (a most decent chap) as well as a letter to your own chain of command (JENGO/OC ENG/SQN BOSS/STN CDR). If enough of you do it, then who knows?
If you really believe something is awry, then you should do all you can in your sphere of influence flag it up with, clear unambiguous FACTS.
If the 'what ifs' constantly point to a major incident/accident in the offing, then you have little choice but to go to print - at least then you may sleep a little more easily at night but you can also look yourself in the mirror in the morning.
Overall, however, I agree that the cuts have been imposed from on high - but involving your direct superiors will allow them to show their true colours to those at the workface one way or another.
Best of Luck