No I have no problem with Jason (apart from not being the most exciting batsman to watch
). He always was straight with me, and did what he said he would, which is a rare commodity amongst ASA managers. But, HATCO wouldn't be classed as an executive position, and to be honest I don't know whether the Centre manager would be considered senior or junior to HATCO. Anyway beside the point really.
As far as being employed in the spot of your choosing, that is not what I would expect. What I was saying was that if you have just spent 5 years working 500 movements a day on a sector the size of one in Australia that handles 100 a day, surely, rather than sending you to that Oz sector, it would be better resource management to send you to a busier radar sector, and yes that may in fact be an approach sector.
I know that guys in Australia will say "there is a line for approach and it starts behind me", but really shouldn't selection for approach be done on merit. That is experience, and ability, in effect, selecting those people most likely to suceed in their training on approach. I don't expect to be put into positions more senior than my colleagues from my era, but I would think it makes sense to best utilise the skills I have gained from my experience in a busier overseas centre.
And as far as getting a TL job when you get back, due to being better qualified due to your O/S experience, it didn't happen last I heard. A few years back one of my colleagues in UAE, went back from Bahrain, and patiently waited for the first TL job to come up, and even though he hard far more experience, and aced everything else in the process, was told that he didn't get the job, because they had heard bad reports of him from a couple of his colleagues in the group. One of these colleagues was the guy who did get the job. Some groups in Melbourne have and always will be a mates club, and that group involved in Sydney arrivals from the West, is the worst of the lot. For that reason, I guess you can call me sceptical of how much benefit my O/S experience will give me, in any future I have with ASA.