Leon,
Regarding the relative take up of the new WSO brevet by the old trades of Nav and AEO, I'll offer a few comments. Some are facts, some my own opinion, and some possibly contentious....
First of all, I am a Nav, with a similar outlook to Wensleydale. Why should I wear a brevet (WSO) that I am not entitled to? I haven't done any training that qualifies me as a WSO - are they just giving away the WSO brevet now? I attended an Air Navigation School, where, as part of a particular Air Navigation Course, I qualified as an "Air Navigator" (that's what it says on the certificate in my log book). Like Wensleydale I put considerable time (how long is the AEO training course?) and effort into the qualifying process. I keep wearing the old Nav brevet not out of nostalgia or loyalty but because I consider I am entitled to - personally I would feel a fraud wearing a WSO brevet.
As for AEOs, well here comes the contentious bit. In my opinion, by embracing the WSO brevet the AEO branch got a boost in status, by bringing themselves up to the equivalent of nav (what was the highest ever ranking AEO? Gp Capt?). This opened up new career opportunities for AEOs (now able to do jobs previously "nav" annotated as opposed to limited to the small pool of AEO jobs), and also improved their financial status....
People may question my last comment. Well, when Nav and AEO were separate branches they topped out on the PA payspine two levels apart. By creating the WSO branch PA AEOs (whatever brevet they chose to wear) eventually benefited by about £2,000 a year.
Thus I believe AEOs were much more likely to embrace the WSO concept in all aspects, including wearing the brevet.
It is often difficult to judge the tone of a written piece. If the above sounds like sour grapes, or me having a dig at the AEO branch, it was not so intended. My own thoughts and feeling reference wearing the nav brevet are just that. My relative comments on AEOs are my own opinions, but I have tried to keep them dispassionate and explain how I reached them. I count myself lucky to have had the privilege of of working with some good AEOs over the years, fine operators and decent human beings.
Last edited by Biggus; 21st Jul 2012 at 11:30.