Fair points, but I am just thinking about a relatively small number to ease the overall overburden. Not everyone would be interested anyway. I don't know how things are these days, but I just thin since the Airforce is now run by accountants and speaks HR, then it's time to play to the civillian rules and look at downsizing and potential redundancy the way it would be dealt with in a big company. The Air Force knows its AE's and Navs very well and in the case of AEops it is time to drop all the Officer first bo@@ocks. If there are a small number of vacancies, put some the expensive, highly trained known quantities in the front seats as well as the back whenever possible. They will cope, its just a matter of training.
I can see the problems though, there is only room for one Harrier pilot and asociated baggage in each airline and we already have one. Its going to take a long time to mop up the surplus.