No idea what it's like now, of course, but wasn't our pay 'abated' to reflect our quite generous non-contributory pension scheme?
Anyway, LJ makes some good points. I lost heart in my later years to a lack of anything resembling 'leadership'. As an OF-4 [I think that's what I was] I was generally treated as an office-boy. No respect at all, just word-processor fodder ... and my 1* would completely ignore my "Good morning, Sir" when I passed him in the corridor.
Where DID leadership go?