GIJOE - I won't named the Gp Capt that I referred to, except to say he is at Air Cmd. He lost what respect he had on his grossly overtasked unit when the OBE pitched up for his work for 'liddle kids'. The same medal has been received by ome of his flying collegues as an operational honour. Where is the equanimity?
An earlier poster referred to the lack of Adminsitrative QA. Until the late 1990s, every aspect of an Adminer's life revolved around the Formal Staff Visit (FSV) - there'd be one from Cmd Accts, RAFIO, etc...these were thinned out as saving measures but as far as I am aware, they have not been replaced; but then again, when there is little discretion and expendture of funds at station level, what's the point?
I now require 2* approval for any duty travel involving flights, including budget airlines, which are now de riguer. There seems to be a new Puritanicalism to reduce expenditure yet several months ago, in the middle of nowhere, I ran into a large party of airmen and one or two officers from a large Lincolnshire station engaged on a staff ride and AT. Good on them I suppose that AT and Staff Rides are (were?) still available to them, but I struggle (as previously outlined ad nauseum) to get funding to go about my duties. Different budgets doncha know!