I joined in '85 and got my first medal (NATO (FRY) 10 years later; on average it's been one every 3 years since, based on going on operations - so they are all round ones. And I am decidedly ground-based and particularly blunt - and that time also includes a number of years away from the mainstream UK Forces where there was no prospect of getting medals.
Another, more positive way of looking at it, is that Wg Cdr Elliot has been lucky not to lose - as I have - about two years of time away from his loved ones.