RAF or Not: Grass Check?

[Wingswinger]

Four Tornadoes passed over my little patch of North-West Hampshire today and my blood was up. The last 18 years disappeared in a flash and I was mentally back in the lead of that four-ball. I loved it. All of it, from BFTS in JPs, to AFTS in the Gnat, Hunters, Harriers and the Tornado GR1. I am insanely jealous of the youngsters who have the chance to fly Typhoon.

Nothing you can do in civvy street, unless you are either extremely fortunate or extremely talented, will ever match it. However, we all reach a point when we realise that it cannot go on forever and it is time to move on. Am I glad I left? On balance, yes. I'm certainly financially better-off than I would have been and I know I wouldn't have been satisfied being a specialist aircrew Sqn Ldr so I would have had perhaps one more flying tour and then I'd have been mired in careerism and politics, stuck in Group or Command HQ or, worse, the MoD. One of my former squadron colleagues is now CAS. Would I have been up there with him? I doubt it. I don't think I have what it would have taken. Nor does my wife. I also doubt it because I know I could not have served the Blair government and leaving early in 1989 at my 38/16 point has saved me the trouble and heartache of a probable resignation sometime around 1999-2001.

There is considerable re-adjustment to do to fit in with civilian ideas and attitudes. I joined a major airline as a first officer and started again at the bottom of a seniority list. I had always thought that having been a military officer and a graduate would be an advantage in the jobs market. It is what I had been led to believe in my youth. It isn't. I had thought that my experience as a leader, manager and administrator would be keenly sought. It wasn't. No-one gave a hoot. In fact, being ex-RAF was a distinct disadvantage as my natural tendency to be positive, punchy and to the point was seen as an aggressive attitude. The reduction in status from RAF officer pilot to airline co-pilot was almost too much to take and I wished to turn the clock back. It took a while to bury that, to learn to be a bit more "woolly" and to give up trying to impress people.

RAF officers (in my time) were used to a form of continuous assessment and being given an appropriate post to develop their careers. It isn't like that in an airline or, I suspect, in any other civilian organisation. Promotion and appointments all hinge on an interview (and on being in the right lodge). There was no guidance and I was not used to it. I was hopelessly optimistic about the sort of career I would have after the RAF. I had thought that airlines would all have pilots on the board of directors and that it would be easy to spot a path to the board room. They don't and it isn't. In short, I found that during the 17 years I had worn RAF blue the world had moved on and I had, to a considerable extent, been left behind. On the other hand, perhaps it had always been that way and RAF service had merely isolated me from it.

Fortunately, things have a habit of working out. I stuck with the airline world and found enjoyment of a different sort in exploring the places I found myself on a crew slip or nightstop. I read much more widely than I had done when I was in the RAF and even became a bit of an autodidact. I'm now with my second airline, one which does not operate a seniority list, promoting and appointing on ability alone and I am enjoying the new challenges immensely. I certainly don't think I'll be retiring for a while yet!

Edited to add: Looking back, I found the resettlement package offered by the Service wholly inadequate both in terms of finance and in terms of courses designed to fit one for a civilian career. I think, considering what we did and were prepared to do for our country, it's meanness was nothing short of disgraceful. The lack of finance I coped with easily enough (paying for an ATPL) but it's the lack of advice and detailed preparation for civvy street that still rankles. I hope things have improved.