Great posts, all well observed.......
T'was a great once upon a time, and I only spent my own cash ( <10k STG) moving from military to civvy.
I am observing 40 years of deterioration.
Well I've only seen 35 years but to me the really staggering thing is that the rate of deterioration seems to have increased rapidly in the last decade or so.
In all honesty I still get satisfaction from it
sometimes , and I'm well rewarded, but is it worth a youngster gambling 100k plus on the chance of getting the same satisfaction and financial rewards in 35 years? I'd certainly caution very strongly against placing the bet.