Originally Posted by
pba_target
A lot of people on this thread are assuming that a "full shooting war" is what this is about. I'd argue there's as much validity for dispersal in "grey zone" conflict. Let's say for the sake of argument there's a large build up of troops on the border of a friendly country where UK PLC might wish to intervene. The same day all the lights go out at your military airfields/the fuel gets mysteriously contaninated - you won't be able to pin it on anyone but it'll definitely be the little green men with designs on preventing your interference/overt support for the friendly country, whilst also undermining your credibility.
The ability to disperse your forces won't necessarily prevent such a sub-threshold event but may make the task more challenging and retain you a credible deterrent in that grey zone.
One of the worries in Germany was those friendly to the cause would introduce the likes of LSD to the station water supply resulting in a station full of armed bods high as kites and the dangers that entailed, let alone the station becoming none effective.