I am afraid I am with LJ on this one... we are living in an enlightened age and the RAF is better than this. First gay squadron commander? First black two star? First asian..... you get my drift. If we are a meritocracy then this is not remarkable... nor should it be. Congrats to the AVM West and great news that the DIO has a talented leader... and great that the RAF can contend for such top slots.
On the medals front... well... the phrase "everyone has to do one in rank" seems to have been trotted out by my poster quite a lot... and latterly, those postings have been far more general in nature than aircrew specific. In fact, I would have thought an infra specialist would have been vital in Afghanistan.... particularly considering our work in NTM-A... and also with the PRTs?.... just sayin'