I love the Royal Air Force dearly. It educated me not only in life but in a profession which I still work in 33 years later. It refined a sense of discipline and respect, which had been started by my parents. It gave me the ability and confidence to be part of a professional team and, latterly, to lead a team. It wrapped me in a sense of community and belonging which I have yet to find the equal of. The people I served with were, in many ways and at different times, my mother, my father and my siblings. I have no shame in saying that the day I left I cried like a baby.
I love the Royal Force but I HATE what the politicians and the money men with not an ounce of military ethos have been allowed to do to it. This is made all the worse by the fact that I now work for the Royal Air Force and I know that the vast majoriy of personnel still hold the ethos which I remember but you can only kick a dog so often till he bites back. Please excuse any spelling mistakes, my emotions are running high and I appear to have some grit in my eye.
John