Jayteeto
Valid points all, but you may have missed the fact that job security (or at least satisfaction) is not a lot better inside at the moment either! The RAF Manning experts chopped 1/2 the studes at SY earlier this year, and have just increased PVR times because they need to stem the outflow as we apparently don't have enough pilots.
But you have to ask for what exactly...Merlin going to Navy (probably), SAR going...somewhere. Leaves Chinnies and the plastic pig. That's it. Not the world you left by a long way - it is currently a desperately sad place to be, and the only certainty we have is that it is going to get worse (and that was the OFFICIAL line recently from the Liaison team at SY). It has ceased to be a career and is now a job. Speak to studes at SY, and ask them their plans, and the answers are overwhelmingly along the lines of 'I'll do this for 6 years or so, then leave and do something else'. You can count those who view the RAF as a long term career on the fingers of one foot. I work with them everyday, and given the future they face, I cannot blame them to be honest. So so Sad. The RAF has been decimated by our Senior Officers - not one of them willing to defend the Service over his pension. We are about flying and aircraft, NOT JPA, IT initiatives or the other bolloc*s we spend millions on. No Harrier, No MPA, SAR going, Merlin going, Sentinel going, DHFS looking to sell 2 Griffins.etc etc. You were right to leave. I was wrong to stay.