Quick penny's worth from a former UAS stude - 15 years back- now a journo in the national news media.
UAS worked for me, in as much as I left with a working knowledge of the light blue service, and a huge respect for it.
It didn't get me to sign up, and even back then there was a recognition among studes that this was an astonishing freebie which most taxpayers would be fuming about if only they knew, and the whole thing was probably doomed in the long term.
As I recall, virtually all of our number who did go on to serve had already made that decision before they laid their hands on a 'Dog.
But boy, did we have a blast. Summer camp at Laarbruch. Training nights with cheap beer and even occasionally interesting speakers, and the best light aircraft instruction a mere mortal could ever ask for.
Can UASs still be justified, when you can't even keep Coltishall open a few extra months, and the RN can't afford to keep its Harriers until the new toys arrive?
Dunno.
But as someone who now watches defence from the outside for a living, I know one thing for certain.
The RAF has got to get its message across to the public better than it does.
You need them to love you, or at least to care a little bit, and a few displays by the Reds or floats at the Gay Pride parade isn't going to cut it. Splendid though the Reds are.
Tony & Co certainly don't see you as a top priority - if they think about you at all - and there's no reason to think the next lot will, whoever they are, even with the top Whitehall job going to a light blue wearer.
I can't stress this enough.
The Army is twice your size, and they struggle to keep their profile up, and make themselves heard in the outside world, and certainly in the Treasury.
The Cold War left you all with a habit of wanting to be low-profile, if not anonymous. Maybe it made sense at the time, but not any more.
The forces - particularly the RAF - are being hacked to the bone and beyond and there has been NOT ONE SQUEEK about it in this election campaign, even at a time when we're at war, in all but name.
If Joe public doesn't spare you a thought, nor will the bunch of specimens chasing his vote.
I'm not convinced that teaching a few undergrads to fly is the answer - sad to say I don't have one to offer - but Lord knows you need to do something, and I fear scrapping the UASs is indicative of a drift in the wrong direction.