Sure Ironbutt, point well taken. And Gulf Air still has a list of "temporary" DEC's, "temporary" in the same sense as the "temporary" income tax was introduced in the United States over half a century ago.
The fact of the matter is, the message companies send is "if you want to be a Captain, your better off leaving, getting your command elsewhere, then reapply." Hence, company has an unstable workforce, as many DEC's swap companies too-- the sacrifice is less as there is no "starting from the bottom."
I can understand Captains' points of view on this, and if I were a Captain I would be a big advocate of hiring "experienced" DEC's, but I am not. And as an FO this is the signals that I read from companies that hire DEC's.