..........let alone (to add to the above post), beyond any doubt whatsoever.
Walter
SVFR may be dismissed because they weren't using it. I get the impression that you think that military aircraft have to be under someone's command and control at all times. This is true in the sense of someone having control over the resource (aircraft and crew) and what it does on a particular day, but this does not extend to control of the resource once it has been despatched to carry out its task. Mil aircraft (rotary and fixed-wing) spend a lot of their time flying around without need to speak to any ATC unit and, to address your point about Machrahanish, they would have no requirement to speak to their ATC unless planning to enter the MATZ. Normally, though, a courtesy call is made to let ATC know that one is about to fly close to their MATZ (so they don't worry too much if they see a 'blip' approaching on their radar or if they visually see a Chinook apparently heading towards them. Unanswered calls are not uncommon when stooging around at low level.
Incidentally, the most common use of SVFR that I can think of is when the weather at an airfield isn't considered good enough for VFR approaches, particularly, for example, for fast-jet tactical formations. A departing pilot intending to transit VFR once outside the localised bad weather may request a SVFR departure, meaning that he'll be liaising closely with ATC but, effectively, maintaining his own separation from the ground.