I have to agree. As a serving AAC officer, the flying was great while it lasted, but now I've gone from Hero to Zero, shining my backside at a job which has as much to do with flying as Army Recruiting Officers have with honesty.
Cryptkeeper's theory is just that - a theory. Pity it doesn't hold any water. I once thought that surely with Apache things would change, and I notice a lot of young officers I have met recently think the same thing but it ain't gonna be so unless there is a radical overhaul - and when I say radical, I mean Socialist Worker saying the monarchy is a good idea!
At 25, even if you start RMAS in January, you'll be 26 when you finish, 27 and a half to 28 when you finish your pilot's course. There are changes in career structuring, so in theory you could do 2 tours of flying but at you age I wouldn't bank on it - as it is you'll be starting your first flying tour when most people have finished their second!
Don't want to rain on your parade, but as the Lt Col leading the Apache Briefing roadshow once said to a chap who was impertinent enough to suggest he might actually like to fly it -
"If you wanted to fly, you should have joined the RAF!"
...and that is the truth as those stunned people who were at the brief will testify.
Still think I'm just being pessimistic? Well ask yourself this:
Do you think that the AAC has any difficulty in attracting young officers?
Answer - of course not.
Well why then, is it two-thirds undermanned in the rank of Captain, a mere 4 to 6 years after brimming with talent from Sandhurst?
They ain't all leaving for airline jobs, that's for sure.