Alfred,
Without contending the thrust of what you say, the people I speak with about this (and there are many), are weary of living with the constant uncertainty and the constant expectation that coping with change is an integral part of the service contract now. AFPS is just one small aspect of the sense of malaise; NEM is only going to increase the sense of ever increasing, ever relentless change that servicemen (and their families more importantly) are expected to deal with.
If you spend a huge chunk of your life (as they do these days) isolated geographically, culturally, literally and physically from civvy street, then the sense of isolation is only going to get greater. Add to that, the sense that the feeling of commitment is only going one way, and add the fact that people can now communicate about it - I wonder if the reaction would have been any more different years/decades ago?
I don't think people are whining for the sake of it. The people I speak with just want certainty - once you know where the bottom is and when its going to be reached, then you can rebound off it and make plans. SP still and will always apply traditional service levels of commitment to the way they go about their business, but all they seem to get is a civilian level of service in return. The system will always capitalise on that and it is to servicemens credit (and to their ultimate disadvantage) that they will continue to plough on regardless.