Great post TelsBoy, absolutely spot on.
What annoys me the most, is how the cadets have been doubly let down.
Firstly, gliding was 'paused' and they lost the opportunity to fly, (I know there is the AEF, but that amounts to one trip every 2 years in my experience).
Then, to rub salt into the wound, the organisation did NOTHING to replace to loss of flying or compensate for it. Would it really have been that hard to arrange extra visits to willing civvie gliding clubs, or, laid on extra jollies in Chinook, Merlin, Puma, Herc etc?
I was at a squadron open night last month, and the staff were still talking about the opportunities to go gliding. The enrolled cadets had that knowing look on their faces!
The organisation should have been open and honest about the 'pause' right from the start and said, "Look guys, there's a problem with gliding and it might take a while to fix. But don't worry, we're launching 'Project CadetFly' to get you all maximum air-time!"
Heck, someone might even have been promoted or got a Queens honour for it.