You guys are just cracking me up!! ........oops there goes another rib........
As an FC (in case you hadn't realised) I wouldn't have a huge problem with a combined branch. But as the two jobs are about as similar as say, pilot & nav, only the basic ATC modules could really be combined. Trust me, you don't want FCs sitting in a tower (all that sunlight would mess up our body clocks). Also, air traffickers controlling 10 v 40s could be equally scary!
However, from what you guys are saying on this thread, I suspect that our Gp staff have a better reputation than yours apparently do.
Canary Boy - Another plus side: we might turn out air traffickers who knew how to do AAR!
Regards, ADIS