So 'GhostRider" and "d105", when you have had enough of Etihad, or the Middle East, or both and decide to move on from possibly a captains position will you be prepared to go as an FO or will you be looking for a DEC position?
All the airlines around the Gulf have taken DEC either due to expansion or lack of suitable material from within, the practice goes back to the sixties, to my knowledge, so you may as well get used to it, no one will believe you if you now say you didn't know it happened.