Keeping the thread drift going - this is a serious question and I'm not denigrating any Scottish people/forces. What, apart from a "Vanity" project, is the point of a Scottish defence force being a major player? Who is going to attack them? Who, unless Ms Sturgeon wants to do a Blair and go on ill conceived foreign adventures, will they go to fight and where? Excepting the NATO Airspace responsibility, what are they going to do? What would be their role in NATO, if it exists in the future, and will they joining Macron's EU army? The Republic of Ireland manage OK with their forces and their Army even do UN work. Scotland would obviously need air and sea assets for Fishery and Oil rig support and possibly MCM vessels which could also do border and drug patrols. SAR and support rotary plus presidential and VIP flight. What is the army going to do and where are they going to need to go? Aid to civil power and UN work or a lot more? Surely the money spent on a very expensive but small QRA etc. would be better spent on the Scottish heath service, roads or schools. As I said at the start this is a serious question - why does Scotland need to be a major player apart from - We have a tradition of always having had strong, very efficient soldiers of which we are justifiably proud.
More continuation of thread drift - I see a major problem with an Independent Scotland joining the EU in the event of the UK leaving the EU. Scotland's biggest trading partner would be a country outside the EU. According to remain it will take years for a UK/EU trading deal so how would Scotland export to England? Remember all the problems being brought up regarding trade between UK/EU/NI and a possible "hard border"? All the talk about where this "hard border" would be - is it between NI/ROI or down the Irish sea. So would there be a "Hard Border" stretching from Gretna to Berwick? We are told there will be queues from London to Dover when the UK leaves so can you imaging queues of lorries full of exports on the A1 from Edinburgh to Berwick or queues from Glasgow to Gretna on the M74 while EU officials check paperwork? LNER trains and the West Coast line stopping for passport and good checks? The English/Scottish border is a lot more porous than the NI/ROI border so how could customs check anything?