Shortly before I left the RAF, Halton Apps were coming out already wearing Cpl stripes, which really upset the "old sweats" who had earned theirs the hard way. Anyone got any thoughts on that ?
Somewhat like the early "green shield" flight lieutenants who attained that rank rapidly by virtue of their (then) scarce university degrees. This led to some bizarre situations, such as one we had on my nav course having to address one of the instructors as "sir", as was customary, in spite of the fact that said instructor was still a flying officer!