C130,
Take absolutely no notice of Proone, he is rarely anything but controversial and is talking about an RAF that you and I as very young men indeed would have had no real knowledge of.
I joined as a Nav Inst Mech before reaching Sgt as L Tech FS before swapping my overalls for a flying suit, some would still say they are both overalls
From my younger days there was never a sense of cost and it was nearly always rosy as a rosy thing.
As a shift worker on 10 line at Bzn I worked 3 days 3 nights then had 6 days off so only 6 months at work and that was before you used any leave.
Duty supper for one and all and free for the bean stealer's
More MT vehicles that you could shake a stick at, I remember as a 17 year old driving a huge cherry picker as part of a multi vehicle convoy to the Airman's mess for 3am breakfast and double parking just to annoy the scuffers.
A fitters course and a brief spell in the hell hole that was Sealand was followed by a tour in Germany in the bay at Bruggen, tax free car, petrol coupons, cheap booze, skiing, inter section sport, Deci with 31 Sqn, European holidays, nights out in Roermond, Wine Fest's, Rhine in Flames, Beer calls. The only down side was the almost monthly mini/max/Taceval but a few days of pain for all that fun, fair exchange methinks.
At Valley as a newly promoted Sgt going a trip in a Wessex to Jersey as a "fuel burn" fact finding exercises which was actually 3 days golf and 3 days accom all courtesy of HMG, free golf at Royal Jersey as they were V impressed with us military types.
Going aircrew was an outstanding move, not for everyone but for me it really did work out. The 9 years I did on Puma's were some of the best days of my whole life. Two 8 week tours in Belize were just breath takingly good fun and an experience that some can only dream of.
Being tasked to fly a medical team into a jungle clearing then watching them spend a day as a mobile hospital will live with me for ever. I watched a poor young man have his foot amputated as he had ended up with gangrene, a women being sterilised and a whole host of other stuff and all carried out with a couple of stretchers and what ever else you could shoe horn into the back of a Puma.
Being tasked to take water into the jungle for a bunch of Archaeologists who were uncovering a Mayan? Temple and out of gratitude being showed round, fascinating but kin big steps springs to mind.
Being taught how to fly a Puma, outstanding.
Journey's End..................
Another posting to Germany, this time Laarbruch and this time an even better time. 7 tax free cars in 3 and a bit years, more petrol coupons, more Euro travel, more cheap booze etc etc etc.
Wangling a trip in a Harrier only to find that your pilot is one of the dads you stand on the touchline with each week cheering on each others footballing sons and as you walk he says " It's an hours GH so 30 minutes for me and 30 minutes for you", I am still smiling almost 20 years on.
My last 15 years will have been spent on the Herc. Someone told me when I started the Herc OCU to buy a world map and a tub of pins and mark everywhere you have ever been. Not as lucky as some as the furthest east I ever got was Brunei and the furthers west was Honolulu but in between, what a blast.
By the time I finish it will have been 38 and a bit years and whilst there were a coupe of bad times when I screwed up in spades and a few really really sad times when I saw some really good people lose their lives I would not have missed any of it for the world.