I did my time although it was a few years ago.
People always think the grass is greener but in reality life in British civil aviation is not as rosy as it used to be. There are not loads of vacancies for engineers. The MROs are closing and moving out to the Far East or Eastern Europe because you can pay people peanuts and they don't worry about H&S etc. The airlines are also cutting down on in-house maintenance because its cheaper to send their aircraft abroad. We don't make aircraft in this country any more either. Some companies don't pay overtime either and operate a banked hours policy with time off in lieu. The summer's not a busy time at MROs because airlines need all their aircraft ferrying people on their hols.
Yes you may have a licence but where do you get your Boeing and Airbus experience in the RAF? Of course their are some jobs out there but the oportunites for big money are few and far between. There is money on the contractors circuit but then you are away from home - just like being in the RAF then.