Morning EngineOut
Look, I know how hard it was to start from the bottom of the GA ladder, because I did the same thing. I took out a loan, worked my pants off getting my licences, then worked them off even more earning scraps doing odd jobs. I actually qualified for food stamps on four of my salaried years. And never in my previous posts have I said that that method of climbing the ladder was a walk in the park, i.e. I have never diminished the recognition of the efforts that anyone has put into their careers to get here.
But I'm sorry really cannot agree with you when you say that the cadetship is a relative walk in the park because for quite a few of the guys who do it, that's the their only shot of getting into the business. They don't come from places that have a GA/military system that they can break into and work whilst learning. And as such the pressure to succeed doing the cadetship factors very high. Though as you and I both know how it might have been a struggle to cope with working and learning at the same time, we were in an environment that offered choices to climb that ladder. That opportunity is not present in HKG. It's a one shot deal here. I can understand where you are coming from but I must beg to differ.
With regards to the grade C/B SO thing, I wasn't making a comparison to a cadet vs. a DE guy joining, I was just saying that there are similar discrepancies made in CX as fooey was pointing out at KA, though it's not a 6 year gap in qualification standard. That's all.
And yes, I do believe that the QL is a set standard for everyone across the board. Would a QL check be any easier for an ex cadet as opposed to a DESO? I've mentioned before in previous posts that there comes a time when everyone has to reach a benchmark standard here, or else the same argument could go for someone who has thousands of military fast jet instruction time should qualify for more than the average joiner in the company, at any level. But that's not the case, because he QLs the same as you do after passing all the right hurdles, and so do the LEPS. And he reeives his 4 bars the same as you do after even more hurdles, as do the LEPS.
With regards to the basings issue, I've already argued towards lifestyle parity on base being the focus of my advocation. My previous post to fooey was to highlight a point of disparity.
The Lite's out.....all other comments (no doubt repetitive) towards LEPS not having the right to equal career rewards, please refer to previous posts which I think make for at least some table discussion and not immediate dismissal. Here's another breadcrumb that I will throw in: CP 2 was a course designed to convert the flight engineers to pilot positions, the course for conversion paid for in its entirety by the company (so no financial risk, as some would say). They had as many hours flying aircraft (as opposed to operating, which none of us can touch because they are all walking encyclopaedias of systems operation) as a cadet did coming out of ADL. Are they as such cadets...and entitled to local scales? Or are their expat A scales still valid?
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