Milops, thank you for the kind words. In reading this post it occurred to me that you and your colleauges might be interested in looking over the IFALDA or EUFALDA web sites for an insight into FAA Aircraft Dispatchers and the European equivalent. IFALDA is the Internatioanl Federation of Airline Dispatchers Assoc and EU FALDA is the European Assoc.
www.IFALDA.org
http://www.glasgow-nautical.ac.uk/
follow the links to the other sites.
On the pros and cons of FAA vs ICAO, both have their place. The FAA ticket is a requirement if you are working with a US registered operation and a positive benefit for those working with flight ops/dispatch service providers. The ICAO course is, in my opinion, a much more comprehensive grounding in airline flight ops studies. The FAA naturally is focused on US Fed Regs and not as academic, the ICAO course is close to the ATPL level study.
I note that you mention the UKOMA course, this is a weeks entry level introduction to airline operations and where very valuable there is only so much that can be covered in a week.
I have hired many ex RAF Operations officers and indeed have several working with me at the moment, your skills are easily transferable and if you complete the above prior to hitting civilian life I have no doubt you will increase your chances of a job.