Whilst I in no way support the hiring of DECs when there are sufficiently qualified FOs to upgrade (albeit without the Company required 3 years service) I am somewhat confused about the discontent of FOs who are not upgraded ON their 3 year anniversary.
No current FOs with less than 3 years service were told at their interviews that the upgrade would take place after 3 years. The information given was a minimum of 3 years service before being eligible for upgrade.
Go ahead and be pissed off about DECs (they piss me off) but dont carry on about how hard done by you are by not getting your upgrade until you have served 3 1/2 or 4 years. It still isnt bad and in hindsight goes very quickly.
The 3 year rule was brought in when I and my colleagues were FOs; it was a change that affected us not you.