Will never happen!

Loiter has it right. The system is broken due to neglect and the current lot are for the status quo and will jump on anyone who has ideas for real change. The underlying principal of RAAF career management remains sound however. Pump 100 pilots through to make 50 SQNLDR QFIs/FCIs/SMEs to make 20 WGCDR COs to make 10 Groupies to make 6 AIRCDREs to make 3 AVMs for 1 CAF. If 20 of the 100 are civilians or reservists, not destined for higher rank, then the CAF gene pool is diluted and SOME positions up the chain end up being manned by people who shouldn't be there and who make decisions which make the retention problem worse. Anyone else know of a few ex RAAF/RAF guys, now in the airlines who would shake up the service and put it back on the straight and narrow through vision accompanied by an ability to work ridiculously hard?

My suggestion is to restore the attractiveness of the position of CO of a flying squadron. Once again make it the dream job for a pilot in the RAAF/RAF (if it wasn't yours then you are part of the 50 - nothing wrong with that btw). Lavish publicity and cred on the flying squadrons and make them where people want to be (not just pilots). Eventually (and this will take time since so much goodwill has been squandered for so long) junior pilots will see it as a credible alternative to the airlines and there will be a draw through effect. You will get a situation where the Pers staff will have a real choice of people to fill positions. i.e. a healthy, competitive system.

Also I would ask why civilian airline guys would want to fly military? Take the reasons gathered and PR the s@#$ out of them.

ahhh come on Fubaar, lighten up, it may be weak and not very clever but badly misplaced? It's not that serious an issue is it? The day Ausi military guys/gals can't take a bit of ribbing is the day that it really is not worth joining, it was the thing i enjoyed most in my eight years with the RAAF as an Engo. Have a laugh mate. Framer.

We must make sure that never happens!
:ugh:

Not sure if I agree with your maths there - if you need less full time pilots to begin with (and fill the other slots with reservists), then the pool is concentrated. You can be more selective in recruitment and build a stronger pool of candidates for higher rank.

Not that the outcome is different - with due respect to my friends still in, we ex-servies often laugh that the service is the "Best of what's left"!:}

:ok:
...and reservists are there to do a job, not because they need one!:}

Typical from the polies. Avoid the real issue,that of investment and re-investment to sustain the long term pool of trained/skilled staff.
Might as well enlist every member of the population to serve once a month at the outposts of freedom(tax free).
Bollox really.

Icarus,

I agree that if you could identify the 'SQNLDR 50' from the start then the rest of the slots could be filled with line drivers. This is not that easy when you consider that some bograts don't know what they want to do after lunch let alone after their ROSO is up, some die or become similarly mortally challenged, some will make the best CO since Guy Gibson in their own minds (or recruiting's) but can't deliver, some will change their minds. So, by necessity, a larger than necessary pool is thrown into the melting pot of bograthood with the hope that a ruggedly handsome, handlebar mustachioed, fire breathing, lead-from-the-front, benign dictator with a grasp of Equal Employment Opportunity legislation, Commanding Officer emerges from the fray. I have to say that they did and in some cases still do, exist but this mechanism is not in good working order today. Isn't one of the ideas of ADFA to identify this cream of future leaders? Ask those boys today what they're doing when their time is up.

By the way, backhand insults, disguised as banter, directed towards the guys who are still in only depresses the dedicated and makes the d1ckheads look around for who the dead wood could be. i.e. makes the problem worse. It's one thing to be critical but I think the RAAF is worth saving as it has a proud history and an honorable purpose. Any suggestions?

Gnadenburg, Mate,

Pretty sure we ARE at war - well at least that's what my mates in the Gulf say... and the parents of the dead Aussie soldiers would probably agree. FFS we ARE doing the job now!

allthecool, whilst I don't dispute your notion of the country being at war with the Taliban, I would dispute that it's the type of example that Gnadenburg was talking about.

When we have our fighter force involved in sustained operations against the enemy and the entire of the ADF committed to supporting fighting it- rather than just the various 'elements' that are doing it now- then I'll believe that we're fighting the type of war that Gnadenburg is alluding too. I also suspect that any sustained operations will indicate how poorly we're set up to actually fight that type of conflict.

There's two different arguments here. One is what to do in a surge - all hands to the pumps - and the second is how to sustain the core capabilities - what has been done in the RAAF for at least the last 36 years. In the first case it is reasonable that a current B737 guy (ex-RAAF) could undertake a differences course and get on with it. The trouble at the moment is the second argument - the supply of the guys who would run all the aspects of the differences course - FLTCDRs, QFIs, COs. The right people don't want to run the show.