Airdrop,
Most of the accreditation that the military does is because of IIP. Most of the accreditation counts for very little in the Civil world unless you want to be an assistant or an ATC manager. If you want to work for a major employer like NATS, your CATCS time will count for nought.
The idea that you are all suddenly going to become civilian employees is farcical. Companies like NATS and SERCO can just about support the task they have at the moment.
You can't send civilian ATCOs to Basra, Baghdad or Bagram, most of them would not want to go to MPA, although they might like to go to Cyprus.
Your ATCOs have a wide portfolio of experience that is extremely valuable on deployed ops, just ask those that have served in some of the places mentioned above.
Once again I get the feeling that you also are one of those who would secretly like to "jump ship". Well regardless of an ATCOs CATCS experiences, moving to NATS will still cost you time and money.
The CAA has today published its firm proposals for the regulatory price controls for Control Period 2. Chief executive, Paul Barron, this morning said: "We are disappointed at the stance the CAA has taken. In particular, we are concerned that the latest proposals require us to cut operating costs further in CP2, on top of the £106 million we already plan to take out of the business. With staff costs representing 70 per cent of our operating expenditure, the CAA's latest demands are going to be very tough to meet."
Even NATS cannot afford to waste money on the likes of those that it is not going to get value out of. They are no longer employing many staff on permanent contracts. All it will take is another 9-11 and you could well be on the dole, knocking at the door of 3Gp asking for your job back.
If you are a military ATCO, then you should be advertising what you can do. You are a flexible beast, go anywhere, do anything, without the restrictions of a powerful union. You can be ORDERED to open up Director and also exceed the European Working Time directive in extremis. You should be pushing the boundaries of your branch to ensure that your expeditionary capability is enhanced, rather than sitting in your Vale of York/Lincolnshire/Welsh (delete as appropriate) Tower moaning about being on console for 61 and half minutes without a break.
You should be proud that when you deploy, your knowledge of airspace management is streets ahead of your American counterparts and you also have some awareness of what your WC brethren are about, because you have spent some time in 1ACC.
So stop speculating about turning civvy, in ain't gonna happen any time soon. Use your energy in spouting about how much better you and your colleagues are, than that Serco/NATS etc employee is, whose company is only concerned with making a profit for it's shareholders...at your expense.
Nuff said.
And no wise cracks about any Spillong mistakes either!