Chatted with some of the AWACS guys at Waddington airshow. I was told that although the crews are in a hotel, some bright spark has declared field conditions and therefore no LOA (newspapers/internet not provided however etc etc). All meals are subject to stringent limits - all expenses on receipt only with no "carry over" should you have a really cheap meal or miss breakfast, and dinner at just 18 euros a day. (Try dining out for that in europe these days). The scuttlebuck is that they are paying between £50 - £100 per week out of their own pockets to make life bearable. It appears that the bean counters expect the crews to eat in snack bars, stay in their hotel and watch television all day when not at work. Considering that "Rates" were meant to give the same standard of living as that enjoyed in the mess then they must be serving a lot of pizza and burgers & chips at Waddington these days!
I know that some of you will counter with "living in tents/field kitchen" etc etc yet a welfare package is usually put in place to cover this. While I remember the extravagant rates that were paid when the AWACS operated out of Aviano for 10 years over the Balkans crisis, we have gone too far down the other way. Morale is a fragile thing, and the bean counters must realise that sending crews away for 4 months of the year (admittedly in 2-week steps) affects quality of life - this must be compensated for at the detachment. If the AWACS, with its now small number of available crews, is to stay in theatre for another long stint as happened over the Adriatic then allowances need to be made. Crews should at least break even and not have to pay to fight - the operational allowance would go a long way towards achieving this should our masters decide to pay it!