Beagle, there is a strong argument in my opinion for putting all METS students through Oxford instead of getting 45 Sqn to teach them basic asymmetric & NDB holding. They could complete all the theory & come out with a frozen ATPL (bonded for x years for the total cost, say £100k) & then go to 45 Sqn for a pre-OCU cse covering LL Nav, formation etc, they could even get streamed & do stuff appropriate to their type (flying in circles for Shadow & E3s etc). This would help to prevent all those people doing their ATPL studies in their early 30s & then PVRing to make use of it as they would only need to wait for their 40/18 point to collect their licence. It would also stop all those questions about training equivalence between mil & civil pilots.
No chance of it happening though as the monster that is MFTS will perpetuate the current system, only teaching asymmetric on a Phenom (is it even noticeable?) will hardly prepare a student for a Shadow let alone an Atlas. More importantly of course, you have to consider the jobs for the VSOs to slide into at Ascent when they retire....