Smudge,
Maybe an extreme case but this is something that hit me between the eyes when I returned to the fold.
I left, after 22 years, in 1986 as a Ch.Tech fairy and along with 6 Sgts, I had 76 juniors to look after. My reporting chain was a W.O., a Flt. Lt. Bengo and a Sqn.Ldr Sengo who were all of a "heavy" breed and didn't want to know about fairy stuff.
I went off and spent 14 years in the oil and gas business and retired in 1999 age 53. After a couple of years, I got a bit bored and joined the CS as a grade D PTO at a unit near Lincoln. Where I worked, there were about 10 teams of 6-8 ORs each controlled by a Flt. Lt., above this there were 2 Sqn. Ldrs topped off by a Wg. Cdr. I was amazed that in 15 years, a job done by a Ch. Tech was being done by a Wg. Cdr. and that control of a 6-8 man team, which would have been done by a senior Cpl. now justified a Flt. Lt.
There were other marked differerences, mainly concerning skills and abilities but it would take too long to list them all.
Last edited by The Oberon; 18th Aug 2013 at 07:46.