Yup.Sig_Des said:
We provide the training opportunities. What people do with them is up to them.
I managed to get out quite a bit during SG03, as it was all 100% canned from the Tac Hel point-of-view. My most enjoyable parts were talking to the troops waiting at the PZs for their lifts out or back. They all got the same training and opportunities to use it and while most seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, some in one coy that I "interviewed" thought that it sucked.
I've rarely been able to get out of Excon (except for liaison trips, mainly to 400 Sqn) for the last couple of years as the nature of the ex changed and I was kept more busy with co-ord stuff, getting embedded media types authorized to fly with their companies, VIPs, etcetera. This year Excon/3 MNB HQ's up on base due to lack of manpower to establish and run a tented Excon. We're not thrilled by that as it rather destroys the flavour for us inmates. A certain Sig Op is not the only one unlikely to be doing much fun stuff. Few of us planners and overseers are likely to as well.
The satisfaction comes, instead, from knowing that we put together a decent, fun, challenging, educational exercise that will be raved about for years to come and that almost a year's worth of planning paid off - so enjoy it, dammit, or no helicopter ride for you.
Yes, sitting in a hot box and being abused and under-appreciated all day long is a good chunk of a Sig Op's life but it's still an absolutely vital trade that we couldn't function without .
Part of the 'hostile' stage in my career. 
