The TSAG, the Technical Services Advisory Group, does a really good job at building up operators. They do the best they can. A big problem for retention is within the communities themselves. I'm not sure if you're a small-town boy, but I am. Sometimes the politics within the small community you're raised in affect you. Sometimes it's the wrong last name. Sometimes it's who you're related to. You get pushed out.
I often refer to being an operator as working in the shadows. We do not get pats on the back. We really serve the community in a selfless manner until something goes wrong.