Downsizer, Trim Stab asked where it was going to come from, not where it is going to.
I'm reading all this "they will never cut it" bollox and thinking it seems so like the long list of "they will never cancel MRa4 / we can't not have LRMP / We need the Harriers for the Carriers / Scampton can't close because Nigger is buried there / and all that other stuff that came to pass.
The RAF is too big for both the requirements of the MOD and the available budget.
Any business faced withthis kind of budget crisis would make savage and effective cuts.
Close Kinloss full stop.
Close Lossie, Aircraft and kit to Marham full stop. No need for the OCU, just use existing experienced Pilots & SLF.
Close a handfull of others as well, including Lyneham, on the basis of, aircraft and equipment gets relocated to other stations, and ALL the service people get binned as of the end of the month.
No fannying around, no protecting yer pals. Yer station is out of business and you are out of a job. Real World, Real World, Go!
No Harriers, no need for Harrier drivers. Etc. Etc.
Enough Tonka mates can be found doing other things, including flying Tonkas from Marham.
A quick and easy (on the MOD & RAF) solution.
The people at Kinloss who said it could not be done are seeing that it could. When will the rest of you wake up and see it not only can but very well might, real soon?
I know a Flt Lt getting FP who has not been in the air for 18 months and has no potential for getting off the ground as aircrew ever again.
How can that be right?
Apart from the fact that there are no jobs to go to so they will not be leaving in droves through desire, the RAF has no need for loads of the people it has at present so there is little or no case for looking after anyone.
I'm not saying I agree with the principle, but you all need to accept the possibility.
The people who say we can't manage with less are nearly right. We can't do what we have been doing with half the people, a third of the aircraft and a lot less money.
But that's all that we really need to do a lot less, which is what is being asked of us. Not just in the RAF but all over the UK.
Budget holders have ruined the country, not just bailing out the banks, it runs deeper than that. So many items of waste are under your nose every day. Did the RAF Fight Safety Department really need to produce calendars? How can it be a good idea to spend millions of pounds a year on SSSA so that some staff can be based where they are not required instead of getting them to do the job from an airfield with quarters?
Would recruitment really have suffered without the Typhoon/Eurofighter branded Lanyards to give away at airshows? Do we need to have the AFCO in teh city centre paying a small fortune in rent when anyone who can't find their way to an airfield or a postbox may not be what the recruiters ought to be looking at anyway.
Do we need a 42 in plasma TV in the Guard room for visitors to watch while getting a vehilce pass?
Could we not have continued to use whiteboards and dry markers instead of the ever so clever (and expensive) new interactive stuff?