Come in 54 - your time is up
Well after 2 years hanging on I've decided to call it quits.
The reasons are multiple but the new look organisation doesn't seem to fit what I can offer around my real life and as my SQN is due for chopping it seems like a convenient dovetail.
There was a lingering sense of shame that I was bailing out when the people remaining probably need all the help they can get but having seen (and participated in) a lot of behind the scenes work and effort for the RTF brushed aside with no warning then hey ho - time to move on.
- things like painting the briefing room on a winter Sunday evening which other members had procured at their own expense to make it happen.
- cleaning the aircraft every other month which are now either due for selling or scrapping.
- Cleaning the Buildings and Hangar for inspections and audits.
- Helping on courses for cadets to try and keep the unit as a going concern.
I don't even lay the blame with 2FTS - it's what I think of as the British Leyland syndrome. That slow growing cancer of paralysis across the RAF and Industry. Instead of trampling the problems to death in a matter of months and making things happen it was the slow decline of morale, updates and progress that made me realise it was going to be bad.
It's so frustrating that the best single gliding organisation in the world has been totally decimated and is no where near out of the woods yet. All that time from everyone, effort, perseverance. Gone.
What a waste.
But the most important aspect is the door it opened for me to get my foot into a Commercial aviation career. Willing to bet most reading this know of any number of cadets who have gone from nowhere through a VGS into Mil or Civ careers that would otherwise be unavailable.
My thoughts are with the remaining staff. All the best.