Tomjoad,
A diversion if you will allow. When I went through Halton as a Craft Apprentice I also played Trombone in the Apprentice Brass Band. The Bandmaster was a Chief Technician called Ron Galloway, a fellow trombonist, but, he had a line that always went down well in polite circles. He was an ex Nav Inst Chief Technician, and always pointed out that he had remusterd from "Instruments to Instruments", he always made the point that dropping a few trade groups ensured he was earning less. A smashing bloke. But the trade group mish mash throws up loads of other trade/pay anomalies. Is it really true that Pilots are TG21, the same as guardroom staff ? You would need a degree to sort it all out, and perhaps that's what the service is trying to do now.
Smudge
