Cottam, my point is that you're already planning to return to the military if it goes pear-shaped with NATS. If I were NATS, I would be questioning whether you had the right attitude to start one of our very expensive courses. If I were military (oh, I am), I would be asking whether I wanted you back for exactly the same reasons.
who knows.........we are clearly very flush with people
Don't talk yourself up. The military are quite capable of cutting their nose off to spite.
I would have thought you would have it figured by now. Being a controller (civil or military) isn't like stacking shelves in Tesco. Most of us want to see a bit of commitment.