Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with much, if not all that has been written on this subject, perhaps it is time to look to the future. The golden age that is discussed by many is fading into the distance fast and there will be few left in today's military who can remember it. Whilst there was a great deal about this period that was good in terms of Airworthiness, the same cannot necessarily be said about some of the cultural and human factors aspects of flight safety. Safety in civilian aviation is done very differently now compared to even 20 years ago and one of the challenges for the MAA is how to look to the future given the baggage of the past.
Many amazing people have lost their lives in military aviation for many different reasons and the vast majority involved in flight safety, past and present, do the job with the memories of lost friends in their hearts and the best of intentions. However, in an organisation with posting cycles etc it is always going to be difficult to gain the right skills to do safety/ airworthiness properly. Perhaps there is a need for a Safety Branch (or maybe a Safety stream for specific branches) with a career path from junior SFSO through Duty Holder offices, PTs, RTSAs and finally the MAA or MAAIB where a career of safety management gives them the knowledge they really need. The level of experience in civilian regulators is mind boggling when compared to the military equivalents.
So much has already been achieved compared to the system of 10+ years ago when my first safety job as an SO3 led to redicule by my peers as a dead end job with no likelihood of promotion. There is much to be encouraged about, certainly in some areas anyway. But of course, safety is a journey that never ends and to complete the clichés, it's everyone's responsibility (or was that FOD?)