Roller Merlin,
not in any way disagreeing or arguing with what you say, but;
But by leaving the RAAF we can have the location my family wants, potential fast career progression during worldwide shortage of experience (that appears unprecedented and long term), and the full control of our destiny.
it ain't all roses and its getting worse in the airlines - the pilot shortage may be rearing its head but the one thing that wont change is the work rate in the airlines - they are squeezing every last drop out of the crew in this day and age. Domestic flying in Qantas is TIRING, and the LC carriers are worse. What am I saying; in 2007 the airlines aren't necessarily the lifestyle option they sometimes appear.
You will rarely (never?) be home for for Christmas etc, probably miss most birthdays etc etc. For a experienced RAAF pilot there ain't much difference in quality of the job between left and right; the only thing going for it is the money! Which isn't a lot in the LCC's!
I often saw us being our own worst enemies when I was in; we would get the job done and screw the workload. Did they leadership always know how hard we were working?? As a SQN exec its often hard to rein in the boys sometimes!!