I joined in 1988 and left on redundancy in 2011.
By the time i left i didn't want want to be in and the redundancy was bonus.
Rubbish like the RAF sending you on a course and expecting you to pay the Hotel bill and claim it back were just ridiculous. Pay as you dine - can't remember a decent meal at a camp with that in operation.
Having to pass a computer test to drive MT in Cyprus with questions on trains, trams and what you do if you come across a horse and rider - if i found any of those on the Pan i'd have been worried. The test was designed for Germany - there it should have stayed.
As a TG 1 Engine / Airframe SNCO i was surprised in early 2011 to receive a DWR for the Falklands as a Cpl Chef in the Officers Mess!
Once that cock up was sorted i did a 2 week course at Cosford to look after LITS in the Falklands (i can only imagine a Chef somewhere wondering what the **** LITS was). At the end of the course we were all informed that we wouldn't need anything we'd learned as it was all going to a service desk and we'd just do what we were told by a voice on a phone.
I wouldn't join up now and wouldn't encourage anyone to. Service life has been massively eroded, the NEM doesn't seem to help many, in lots of cases it makes promotion almost pointless. There's lots of talk about the Military Covenant but i've seen nothing but lip service being paid to it, they might as well just bin it.
Our own government paying lawyers to prosecute the troops they sent to war should be the thing that virtually kills recruitment...