Skeleton,
while you are perfectly entitled to your opinions, including those on the introduction of Flight Operations Officers, your second paragraph is quite odious and indicative of the worst aspects of the casual casting of aspersions that internet anonymity enables. An individual who is courageous enough to come on this forum overtly and is prepared to argue their case, is to be given at least a modicum of respect, whatever you think of their politics or how their CV (which no doubt is trying to be all things to all men) is written.
You say you are unable to speak freely due to libel laws, a poor excuse to attach to the insinuations you are willing to anonymously put into the public arena. As I understand it, you state that she "ticked all of the...boxes" (your words not mine) of:
- no training
- generally floundered
- averse (I presume that's what you meant, no "d") to learning
I've no personal axe to grind here (a Flight Ops Officer myself, you and I would no doubt agree on a wide range of issues about how the specialisation was introduced and subsequently (mis)managed). That said, I never served with Sophy and I know nothing of any detail about her career (and as I'm not a Gloucester voter her political views are of no interest to me), but I do know that she became OC Ops at RAF Valley. Not a bad achievement for someone you suggest had no training, who generally floundered and was averse to training.
MB