I think you're fairly right on all counts catas420. The REX cadetship is not that bad when you take all the alternatives into consideration. In fact I'll go a step further and say it's probably the way of the future, and not just for REX.
The whole reason that the Cadetship came into being was the realisation by REX management that they could not hold on to their pilots in times of high demand by the major airlines. Back in the old days, they would simply go on a recruiting drive, and that's exactly what they did 3 years ago. During the second half of that drive, REX discovered that they were unable to find suitable candidates to meet the existing requirements, so they lowered (quite drastically I might add) the requirements! In the end REX were litterally scraping the bottom of the G/A barrel. Not necessarily because the applicants were any less capable than those previously (well mostly), but the level of participation in the profession had dropped by a factor of Ten over the past decade. Every man and his dog knew this, but REX management failed (untill later) to grasp it.
What really rubbed salt into the wound was that no sooner had these new recruits been checked to line, then many were snapped up by the Majors. REX could do one of two things, Actvely compete for skilled labour, or find way to prevent their new F/O's from leaving. Whallah! Cadetship and captive workforce.
Then along comes CASA and lends a friendly ear to the bleating of REX management. Convieniently the REGS are changed to make the attainment of command for ex-Cadets more realistic (an answer to one of your questions).
Now REX haven't actively attacked the Terms an Conditions of it's pilots for a few years now. Some may say to it's credit. The fact is of course REX cannot really go any lower, or they run the risk of the only group of candidates (cadets) from simply going somewhere else, or indeed embarking on a diferent career.
As far as flying with cadets go, they are on average every bit as capable as their general entry counterparts, albeit lacking in broad experience. The only problem I've seen has been an expectation by some of them that Command will come up in a much shorter time frame than what is logically required. One such ex-cadet, now F/O, remarked to me that if he had to sit in the RHS for 3 years he wouldn't know if he could handle that!!! I didn't take it personally because he was quick to point out it had nothing to do with flying with the likes of me, but I did wonder just where his head was at? They're a couple like this bloke, and their unreasonable expectations have been fuelled by the lies told to them at interview. The attitude is even more puzzleing when you consider they will have to fly nearly 4000 hours as a co-pilot just to meet one of the min regulatory requirements. Even at max hours, thats around 5 years!
Anyway the changes to the REGs will mean that REX mangement don't have to tell as many lies, but if a quick command is your thing, then the realities of the situation may be a little confronting.
Good luck with whatever you decide, but on balance you could do worse.
Krusty.