A valid point!
I have always said that when the politicial pressure to fly day LL become too great, the threat changed, as did and our kit requirements. All of a sudden, we needed fire suppresants and FDA and damn quickly - which was highlighted to those above. What they did with that info, only they can tell, I would like to ask the Lyneham Stn Cdr what he wrote and why along with AOC 2 Gp. Nonetheless, the stuff had been asked for before - going back to Rhodesia/Zimbabwe - so it can't have come as a suprise to MOD, for goodness sake? So don't blame group captains or even AVMs - its much higher than that!
Having said that, Reid is quite keen to accept that his dept made mistakes but doesn't quite go as far as accepting the responsibility himself. Yes, progress on foam is apparent (not enough and too late in my book) but where is the apology and recompense to the families?
The Gov't can even make themselves look human if they pluck enough courage to do that.