Oh me miserum....
Once again I am moved to apologise to members of the other services for incidents over which i personally had nothing to do with. I have friends from way back who have joined the Navy and, more particularly, the Army who have rapidly become increasingly critical of the RAF despite suffering similar equipment and financial constraints in their own services.
The problem is this in my mind. Whilst the originating events which caused the delay to the Honourable Mark Lancaster were accidental (the window fault, which, incidentally, may not even have been a consequence of ageing equipment), the main source of discontent, yet again, is the way in which WE treated them subsequent to this problem.
It is this ineffective management and cr@p service, with more concern for one's own end-of-shift time than others' discomfort which makes my blood boil. I am proud to serve in the RAF and proud of the task we achieve with the pi$$ poor equipment we are left with after years of financial neglect. But I cannot be proud of this, and many other similar tales. Quite simply, it is not how you would want to be treated yourself so why do people (ie movers) do this? The returning troops have every right to expect that their precious R&R will not be frittered away in a deserted RAF AKT terminal building, and they have every right to expect their bags come home too, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY they definately have the right to be treated like human beings and with a portion of customer service. Correct and timely information, with opportunity to pass on the news to waiting relatives, its not so much to ask!
Time and time again, conversations with friends in other services focus on poor AT back from theatre, and time and time again it is the inhuman and unthinking way in which they have been treated that causes the most offence. We can excuse the technical failures and actual delays with ageing fleets and lack of investment (and they do seem to understand this), but that does not excuse the way in which these guys are treated and served by US.
Its a disgrace and I am ashamed to be associated with it. But I can assure passengers that the crews who actually operate the aircraft in these roles (of which I am one) go to whatever lengths their rules allow to make sure the needs of the passengers are accomodated.
And as an aside, whether or not the Right Honourable gentlemen gets a gong for his service or not, I can't express enough how glad I am that at least some members of the government are trying to understand what it is they are asking of our chaps in the 'Stan and Iraq. Well done him. And some part of me is pleased he experienced the very worst of RAF AT experiences as there is a better chance something may be done to rectify it.