It is a very...very....very rare thing that I agree with Tuk about anything ever.
That being said.....I do agree with him to a great extent this time.
Just because the "Expats" (read Brits) ran Bristow Nigeria for all those years does not mean it was a perfect world there. That Americans are running it now does not promise it shall be either.
The danger to staying for long periods of time in overseas postings is the erosion to one's professional and personal standards which does happen to some.
We (non-Brits) used to laugh at the average Brit whose time at work consisted of showing up from leave....opening a single suitcase...and working all day and getting pissy assed drunk every night....for eight weeks....then closing the suitcase and going home on leave.
That they were quite comfortable living like that in at best could be called squalor....amazed us.
How many of them actually took money home from their local allowances (which were usually an insult in the amount being paid for subsistence) for use at home down the Pub.
How many guys do you know that have Bush Wives in Nigeria and families back home?
Nigeria and every other Touring assignment has its challenges and people deal with them in all sorts of ways....some do well....some not so well.
I can recall good examples of failed coping....but pointing them out will not change anything as the one thing that is a constant is the risks, lure, and pressures of the life style.
We don't have to go down the laundry list of happenings....like domestic squabbles in the Ops Manager's office in Lagos (involving the guy that ran off many good pilots for being involved with Nigerian Women before doing so himself and with a company employee to boot) , the CE and CP both failing to show up to unlock the Tech Log Room at PHC after a drunken evening, a whole operation of Nigerians refusing to work because of some Racial Insults by a CP at Warri....and on an on.....but then some of the Brits thought the days of the Raj had not ended for way too long.
To be fair.....it wasn't just the Brits that had these kinds of problems so understand I am not just bashing Brits but they were in charge and involved in all of these events.
I always looked to the Professional standards.....as long as they were there....the rest was none of my business. The Professional part was what kept me alive and healthy...the other I could avoid by staying at home with a good book. The risk is if you let your personal standards corrode to the point it affects your professional standards....and that can happen any where in any employment and not just on a Touring assignment. The two are very much related.
Last edited by SASless; 14th Sep 2012 at 13:12.