I wouldn't argue for siggies to take slots from those trained in a particular role, but I would argue against making people redundant who are capable of being re-roled whilst at he same time recruiting D.E.s ....the same goes for any trade currently looking at cuts, out here in civvy street any employer who bins existing staff to take on new staff at lower rates of pay tends to find themselves in hot water.
I wouldn't disagree mate. However, it is my experience that for every very capable AEOp that crosses over to SH, there is often someone completely unsuited to the task.
Unfortunately, identifying those unsuitable often takes time and uses up valuable training time and slots on courses that we just don't have. If anything, the problem for AEOp's is the modern selection and training system which is actually very good. With a DE, 99% of the time we get a uniform product capable of the task. The same cannot be said of retreads from other fleets.
As I have said before, I would be a crap wet/dry man so dont take this personally.