Hey Crab, let's not denegrate the RN heroes of 771 and Gannet by calling them secondary roles merchants!? 771 may technically have a different primary role but SAR is the meat and bones of Sqn. Gannet is most assuredly a SAR operation - the clue's in the name: GANNET SAR FLIGHT. Mil SAR types need solidarity in the face of some trying times ahead.
Gents, 2012 will bring some big changes but you can bet your 5% thrust margin that life will still go on, whether us stick-in-the-mud mil boys are driving the cabs or not.
We all want the gold plated solution - the mil understandably want to keep the staus quo, it's a great job and you get all the perks of being a military employee (and the down sides of course). Meanwhile the civs are doing their bit just as well as us and quite rightly see an expansion of their remit as a natural evolution.
It's a massively subjective argument to keep military SAR as is. We do a great job, no bones about it, but money is the driver of all things sadly. As I've said before, any service is better than none - and that's how the MOD/Treasury will see it when it comes to decision time.
I'll personally be sad to see the demise of mil SAR but even a staunch supporter like me good self can't realistically see an alternative to a greater civvy and greatly shrunken mil SAR effort.