Bismark - Spot on
Previous without naming - what part of being a civilian, and being ex services, precludes you from the long list you wrote. I had private health as part of my job, Almost every hotel had a really good Gym. My house is now in the Home Counties instead of the wilds of the Moray Firth. Your posts are ignoring so many facts of life its quite sad. This younger man, Wannabee, (I don't know his age) is bouncing along on the bottom rung in spite of having a degree. He is probably not allowed in the SNCO's mess or accomodation, his income is probably derisory in todays terms, and he is talking about resettlement courses beore ever getting anywhere near the generic WSOp course let alone squadron service.
In my short regular service career I saw time on a Shackleton and then 3 Nimrod Squadrons and left again by the time I was 28yrs old. The writing was on the wall - in the form of SROs and I saw countless people - good people - being sent on resettlement prior to being discharged the service. Many of these guys didn't want to leave and were in their mid thirties with homes in the area, children at local school and mortgages to service. One or two of the wives just up sticks and said farewell to the eternal mediocrity of being a knockers wife. They saw the same writing. This was in the mid 70s and I saw four squadrons fold and the resultant bulge of Siggies and AEOps had to be absorbed somewhere or got rid of.
If Wannabee has the chance to get a foot on the bottom rung of a new ladder and make a new career somewhere else, signing out the keys to the gym and living in a barrack block and trying to do short courses here and there is no way forward.
He has to take risks and move quickly or accept his life is doomed to going nowhere.
The next review will probably dump him anyway in spite of his misplaced loyalty to his employer.