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To add my twopennorth. I commisioned at 30 years old from having reached sgt by age 26 without having been aircrew or appo. Spending time in the ranks for graduate officers is definitely not the way ahead, I have seen a couple of BEngOs shoes catch fire in the crewroom.
I suggest that education of the freshly minted officer is a better approach. Early attitudes are dominated by experiences at IOT and I would suggest more exposure to the ranks might help instead of being indoctrinated by the experiences of individual flt cdrs who may have done very little in the real world before being sent to instruct. The DS I had (a top bloke) had to give a lesson on the sgts mess having never set foot in one, he handed over the lesson to me with no notice. Bring in guest lecturers for the lessons who do the subject as their day job, many IOT instructors are just reading from a set of course notes not teaching from experience. Having seen at first hand the depth of knowledge and ability that many in the ranks possess it may stand them in good stead. Let IOT students understand that the divide is not class or education based, many rankers do what they do by choice not a lack of education or ability. I have had several airman working for me who have 1st or higher degrees.
The airman tendencies arguments made me smile, the phrase existed in my day. One (graduate) officer was bollocked for having a SNCOs beret and mine was used as an example. I always looked like a drawing pin in a beret, perhaps my head was the wrong shape. Undoubtedly, there are ex-airman who cannot make the transition to officer; not through any lack of ability it seems to be more of a mental blockage. This applies equally to the wives, the transition can be difficult. Additionally, there are university qualified IOT graduates who should not be allowed out on their own, its a normal demographic spread.
regards
retard