StopStart
crushed by trivia, bureaucracy, change for change sake, "initiatives", huge uncertainty about the future and a lack of direction
Yep, that very much sums up the current situation.
and
Stop looking at ways to force them to stay and instead concentrate on making them want to stay in.
Absolutely agree but I think it's too late. Perhaps a better option may be to re-arrange how we do business as aircrew in the RAF. Forget all the 38/16 crap and work on 9 years return of service as a planning figure. Train people, give them 6-7 years on a front-line aircraft without a break and expect them to leave at the end of it. Those that enjoy it and are good can chase the career or seek extensions. Those that go will be at the top of the flying tree and probably highly employable outside.
Of course the training system would have to be beefed up to cope with the much higher throughput of numbers but overall, it should be much more manageable and less subject to the boom and bust that commercial opportunites can present. You would probably have a better balance of experience on each sqn too.