OZvandriver,
I will grant you that I have been trolling the last week or so. The simple fact is that I hate to see you guys and gals make uninformed decisions. If you think the company is going to paint an accurate picture for you, you would be mistaken. Their interests are not aligned with yours, and I have no desire to sit in the cockpit with you and hear about how bad you have it.
With regard to being a cadet-hater, I most definitely am not. I have embraced pilots from all our entry mechanisms, even the dreaded DECs. We (AOA) need them all on our side once on the seniority list. I realize that it is not the pilots, but the company who wishes to degrade our conditions. Along those lines, the company does not need my help in giving it a bad name. They do that plenty well all by themselves. Just take a read... Sure, the customers love CX, but labour... not so much.
I don't know if you are really a "van driver" or not (Caravan / crew van / whatever). It does not matter. The high probability is that the course in Adelaide and 4 years eating sandwiches as an SO are not going to make you qualified to sit in the right seat of a wide-body at a major airline. You and your peers will set the bar at a new low in terms of flying performance and industrial conditions. Personally, I would rather not have any part of either.
Cheers,
cxorcist