Round and round it goes
Mmmm... I read this thread with interest. Having been around the RAF for 35+ years (well over 20 flying as NCA) I've watched the wheel go round and round. Seems to me there was a v similar revolt back in the 90s when AEOps were downbanded! All the shouting and outcrying meant nothing then, either. Lots of threats of the sound of doors slamming behind the last one out and lights being left on. I dont recall a mass exodus then and I'll bet in 5 years time the hole left by those WSOP (ALMs) leaving in droves will be just as noticeable.
BTW... SNCO aircrew were invented for POW reasons way back when. NCO pilots (and Navs) disappeared around the time that the big red 'N' buttons appeared on contols sticks. Had the V bombers had Air Engineers, they'd all've been commissioned too. (No NCO AEOps on that fleet). The rank held by aircrew has nothing to do with responsibility (except that only Commissioned Officers could be trusted to deliver buckets of sunshine.) It was all about how you'd be treated by the black booted SS (or similar)!
I sympathise with the current crop of WSOps who feel they've been poorly treated...and they have....but they're not the first....and wont be the last!