Thanks for the replies and advice ... on the "work like you've never worked before" aspect, I just read this little piece, attributed to former Pentagon official Ernie Fitzgerald:
"Military officers for the most part are forced to retire when their family expenses are at a peak -- they've got a couple of kids in college and they're still paying a mortgage. They won't starve on their retired pay. But at the same time, they can't keep up their lifestyle. What happens in our system is that the services see one of their management duties as placing their retired officers, just like a good university will place its graduates. And the place the services have the most influence at is with contractors.
If you're a good clean-living officer and you don't get drunk at lunch or get caught messing around with the opposite sex in the office, and you don't raise too much of a fuss about horror stories you come across--when you retire, a nice man will come calling. Typically he'll be another retired officer. And he'll be driving a fancy car, a Mercedes or equivalent, and wearing a $2000 suit and Gucci shoes and Rolex watch. He will offer to make a comfortable life for you by getting you a comfortable job at one of the contractors. Now, if you go around kicking people in the shins, raising hell about the outrages committed by the big contractors, no nice man comes calling. It's that simple."
I know that's not quite what happens in Australia at the end of a military aviation career, but the sentiment of the work ethic is the important point.
So I'll be doing my best to keep my mouth shut, my eyes and ears open, and get the job done.
