Re undervaluing of technical skills, its not just the RAF. When a corporal in the REME at NATO HQ Brunssum, my son served alongside US Army sergeants of various grades who in terms of length of service alone would have barely have made Lance Corporal in the British army. In his own trade group there was a huge promotion block and it was very much "dead men's shoes".
Still, he's a civvy now, with no regrets that he jumped ship.