The numbers are barely credible.
I was told on good authority that the AFCO foot fall for officers to the RAF is 12000 pa. Even assuming a ratio of 5-1 that could put the airmen footfall at 60000 pa. This could of course sum to the 600 000 for the RAF alone but is it really credible that they recorded and retained records of everyone of these wanabees?
Factor this up for the Army and down for the Navy then the total 10 year foot fall could, I guess, reach 3 million over 10 years. Thus they have 'lost' records for 20% of the people interested in the armed forces?
I suppose this is just credible if my assumptions are right and they didn't include the 80% who just popped in on the off chance 'I was walking down the street and it began to rain'.
As the 12000 wanabee officer initial foot fall falls to 12000 and the into training pilot figure to 120, the whole numbers game starts to skew. OK, into Army training will probably match the higher numbers. Into RAF training, even at the bottom end, will remain far lower.
Kippers for breakfast I think,
from the smell.