Mixed feelings about working in MB. The lifestyle of living in London, working hard but playing hard was great but does wear off after a while, although the working environment inside is much better now it is open plan (nowhere to hide though!). Comment has already been made about home life but to be honest, I had 10 years of weekending it in various jobs so it made no difference. At least in MB I had a pad that could be used for the family at weekends/school holidays. All those benefits will end now however, with the squeeze on allowances and in a year or two's time, there will be no flats for Married personnel, no travel costs and no food allowance. Why would any married serviceman want to work in MB any more? A very senior Officer was recently quoted as saying 'it does not matter about the loss of allowances, this is a promotion job' (Chiseller!)
The main problem with the MoD, as detailed in Bernard Gray's excellent report and the recent Defence Reform programme, is that unless you have at least 2 stars on your shoulder, you cannot add value, regardless of your rank, experience, competence or commitment and even then it is debateable whether they can control matters. There are too many layers of bureaucracy, too many people with too many fingers in too many pies with no-one taking responsibility. TLCM is flawed and does not work. Hours of staffwork undertaken to write briefs etc, with the product never getting to the right person and as BEagle mentioned, they should know anyway! Lots of very good Officers and Civil Servants, going to waste because they cannot make a difference, despite their best efforts.
Another quote. 'This building is like a swimming pool, at one end are people trying to empty the pool of water and at the other end are people desperately trying to fill it up because the water level is dropping'.
Bernard Gray details quite well, some of the problems. Hundreds of people employed in shuffling money around from year to year 'managing capability'. Hundreds of man/women hours wasted. The tension between MB and PJHQ (who is actually in command). The existence of the single service staffs in the building who are as big a barrier to progress as any, because they bring their own single service agendas to every meeting or debate. The existence of DE&S at the other end of the M4, the front line commands, too many committees, I could go on.
On a positive note however, when the proverbial does hit the fan, the MOD can be excellent and the UOR work is a good example of that. Unfortunately, good deeds come to nothing when faced with the supertanker, with no-one at the helm, that is the MoD, taking years to steer around the hazards and very difficult to stop.