Blithe
I find your comment
"Which is a bit like a milkman complaining about the early starts."
shows total lack of what being in the Armed Forces is all about. I joined the RAF many moons ago with the intention of protecting my country from a foreign aggressor and would have fought as best I could.
The Wars in the Middle East are not against foreign powers that wish to invade our country, they are political wars that El Presidente Blair has forced is into with no idea whatsoever of how to extract us from what is developing into a nightmare. No wonder that our volunteer Armed Forces have had enough of being posted sandyside on an increasingly regular basis. The exodus is just beginning and will get worse. I know many Service Pilots who are rapidly preparing themselves for the move into civilian life.
The offshore operators are beginning to recruit direct entry captains from this pool of Military Pilots which means that jobs for low houred non IR pilots are going to be harder to come by.
HF