Cliff,
Many veterans I have spoken with report similar experiences to yours when the end of hostilities came. I suppose with hindsight you can see the sense in not suddenly releasing EVERYONE and thereby flooding the labour market, but not so much in the [i]way[/] it was done - keeping people back in menial jobs, being shouted at by just-qualified sergeants on a power trip.. I can 100% understand the bitterness that is still evident in many former aircrew at their treatment.
Meanwhile, I've taken your advice and added a photo to the thread - there used to be one of me there, from some years ago, but the old web space provider Geocities closed and took my pic with it so I just reposted a new one...
Adam