It is quite interesting from the outside looking in now. I left nearly 2 years ago now but am still involved, peripherally, as a reservist on the Herc (although I don't do as much as I should!!). I too was a lifer (or so I thought) and could never conceive of leaving the warm embrace of the RAF and entering the dull world of civil aviation. Having now done so however, part of me wishes I'd done it sooner...
Anyway, whenever I dust off the uniform and go back in I am consistently amazed/dismayed by the crushingly low levels of morale. People still seem to be keen and generally want to crack on and do the job but just seem to be being crushed by trivia, bureaucracy, change for change sake, "initiatives", huge uncertainty about the future and a lack of direction. I am constantly quizzed on the state of the airline market, what its like in the outside world, advice on licences etc etc. Now, maybe it's easier to spot the dissatisfaction now I'm not part of it but even so I do find it a rather disappointing state of affairs.
As I'm pretty much an outsider now I can't say what the cure is but I honestly don't believe that FRIs are the great panacea. FRIs in the current climate are simply an anaesthetic to temporarily take away the pain of the huge festering wound that is the current state of much of the RAF. The anaesthetic is nice thank you but the wound is still there and that pain relief can wear off quite quickly.
Rather than just chaff money at the problem the future of the RAF would be better served by stripping away the insufferable levels of niff naff and trivia that people are drowning under. I am constantly amazed by how my current employer, for whom safety, efficiency and profit are the absolute bottom line, can initiate change and development at the drop of a hat. If something is going to save us money and increase efficiency, it happens. The operational side (i.e. non-commercial side) of our HQ has a fraction of the people that it takes "run" Brize and yet it handles more flights (by a factor of 20) in a day than Brize does in a week. I've used this line many many times before (apologies) but it is so appropriate:
"I used to work for the military where we had 40 meetings a day and put 1 aircraft airborne a week. I now work for a company that puts 40 aircraft airborne a day and has one meeting a week."
Stop drowning your people in crap, strip away the unintelligible levels of bureaucracy that you have allowed to develop, make it so people actually want to go into work, just acknowledge that things are sub-par at the moment but at least try and offer a brighter future. Your people aren't stupid. Stop looking at ways to force them to stay and instead concentrate on making them want to stay in.