I forgot to add to my list of dissapointments this year and that was NEM. We, the RAF, sold out some of our techies (Armourers were a classic) and rear-crew, and just how the Officer cadre escaped being banded according to branch I'll never know. I suspect that it was run by a branch that new it would be on lower pay band and so managed to sneak it through.
As an officer I am ashamed that we were not looked at when the WO/SNCO/OR cadre were.
Still it will probably need to be looked at again anyway as will the pensions that are all equally unaffordable at current rates. The current drain on trained manpower (the ones that take years to train rather than weeks) needs to be sorted, and that will only happen IMHO when the pay is balanced towards the pull of civvy street.
LJ