I can only agree with the vast majority of posts on this subject.The job has gone downhill so far you wouldn't be able to see your sorry rear end with a very large telescope from where I started out. 2 hours max out from home 1 hour turnround 2 hours max back and in the Pub with a jumper over your uniform shirt for a few beers before lunch time closing was the norm for an early start,just take your epaulettes off before diving into Pinchins Parlour in the evening.More than 2 sectors a day? you cannot be serious,man!
As for 'security'-- I suspect those of you who quite rightly moan about this farce miss the point. We have to be seen by the punters as often as possible taking this flak as it 'sends a message' that everything possible is being done to keep them safe.The comments about A level failed security operatives is well taken. The trouble is the lunatics really have taken over every ward of the assylum and those of us of a certain age have probably helped them by promising ourselves that we'ld be Mr. NiceGuy when we got a command instead of the real b******* we flew with in our youth. They were a disaster area in every respect except they were respected,to their faces at least,and a lot followed on from that in terms of the jobs status and the way we were treated. In the odd idle moment I often wonder how some of the wartime members would take to the way the 'other ranks' behave towards us now.
Hope this is contentious enough to keep the string going a while longer.