We were banding this one around the other day (speaking from an RAF point-of-view) - the government seems to be partially relying on our age-old "can-do" attitude, making things happen with whatever we've got. Unfortunately, with PVR rates amongst our engineers and guys leaving to fly for the airlines instead of staying on (I know of at least 3 people who are going through the pain of paying their money back so they can jump ship) I think it's going to achieve an unsustainable and unrecoverable situation (probably there already). And that situation will no doubt come as a surprise to the government, who'll shift the blame to our upper echelons and force a few scapegoats out of the issue. No way out, I'm afraid, unless enormous effort (and money, I guess) is made to turn the situation around.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but here I was, 12 years ago, desperate to get in and now not actually worried if I end up leaving. THAT is the attitude that the government need to realise exists across a lot of our forces.
