B-D (I hope note),
I could not have written a better summary myself. It's the little things that have pissed us off: the 'march out' from SFA; the arcane rules on accommodation in transit, and God forbid if you want to travel by car rather than by the cheapest, nastiest budget airline that DTMO can find (which is used to calculate the equivalent amount if you decide to drive across Europe). The 'if your wife doesn't submit a Medical form we won't send you your tickets', the 'well, you were issued warm weather uniform in 1990 - we can't possibly issue you new kit now', the used of the term 'dependent', the inability to be able to take long-term partners abroad....we are stuck (as you say) in some 1950s Pathe newsreel; two fibre-board suitcases, stepping off the Britannia into bright sunshine, to be met by the AMO and a wheezy Bedford Bus.