I have been a lurker on various threads on the forum and decided to join in. I like to think I made a small difference as I made the decision early on in my career to follow my fathers example, it was the way I was bought up. When I left training I looked at my peers and those above me, from the examples I observed I made a decision early on of the type of person I was going to be should I get promoted. From JT to Sgt allthough took longer to get there than usual I followed my principles, in the 70's this was a good thing to do. Unfortunately as a SNCO principles were harder to maintain as the current Management team saw this as a thorn in their sides and was frowned on. Who has heard the similar comments to " if you want to further your career I would re think your current working practices", I asked said officer " do you mean if I kow tow and lick A*** I can get promoted", the answer was frequently "if you put it that way then yes", my response was " then I will stay a Sgt then". This left me 16 years in this rank seeing people who knew nothing getting on, these are the people that are now running the forces and is why it is in the position it is. I had the opportunity of speaking to Sir Michael Graydon at Coningsby and he had know idea what Ripple robbing, Sqd christmas trees, to name but a few, meant. His only response was "I have just reduced the Tornado spares budget by 1 million pounds and have not heard that there is a spares problems". When it was explained to him what was going on the Station Cmdr. got a bit miffed and set the SWO on me, still it was fun while it lasted, I still got my chiefs before I left and before my Wingco left the RAF. I got fed up of highlighting all the shortfalls both down the Falklands, Ireland and the first Gulf War, but never ever stopped looking after "my guys", but I do agree that a lot of the officers did tow the party line and did not do justice to their subordinates. As I usually say I can count on the fingers of one hand all the officers I had respect for, I can also count on the fingers of one hand all the officers who should be shot at dawn. That leaves an awful lot in the middle who were basically invisible.