Desperado,
Quite simply, no civilian company would sustain the level of management we have in the RAF.
Can you justify why we have one officer to every two airmen, or why we have more Group Captains than aircraft? Thought not.
There have been a lot of good arguments put forward as to some of the problems with the Officer career structure, the main one being that the RAF are more interested in the careers of Officers rather than actually allowing them to do a good job. The short (2 year) postings that JO's have does not allow them time to make a mark for the good and actually achieve something useful, all it does allow them to do is to screw up, usually for the next incumbent to have to sort out or deal with.
It is also true that the more incompetent (but not stupid) JO's will stay deep and silent, allowing their SNCO's to look after him for the two years, thereby ensuring his career remains on track.
Y_G