Thought#1: If there had not been so many redundancies as a consequence of SDSR 10, and they had been handled differently, we would not have a shortage of naval personnel.
Thought#2: If the politicians had not interfered with the STOVL (F-35B) - CTOL (F-35C) - STOVL (F-35B) debacle we would have encountered much less difficulty.
Thought#3: They are RN fixed wing Pilots already flying a variety of aircraft. Like future RAF F-35B Pilots, they do need training from scratch. UK Pilots are preparing to fly it.
Thought#4: The F-35 has had more public and media scrutiny than most aircraft or other projects. Surely every significant project has had significant issues?
Thought#5: See the eloquently worded and diplomatic
post by Engines on another thread.