I think 'theprior' has summed it up far more eloquently than I did in my initial question about who is looking after those in the middle if the middle are looking after the bottom and the top are looking after themselves.
I see that the poor officer classes clearly do not approve of this idea of Gordon buying more time from "OR's". I would say to look to your own payslips before you criticise any Junior Rank's commitment.
I thought we already 'bought more time' from the ORs in the form of the 4 and 7 yr signing on payments? The point that you are missing here Rigga is that this is being pushed as a commitment bonus. As 'theprior' suggested, by giving 'commitment' bonuses to certain groups, it creates disquiet and more than a little annoyance amongst those who don't get them - the implication being that they are not commited and don't deserve a 'commitment' bonus. Which is clearly not the case - at any level or trade in the RAF.