Just another example of the terrible service that the members of the UK armed forces suffer due to serving in these hot and dangerous places and having their meagre 2 weeks R & R reduced as a result of using poorly supported unsuitable equipment. Its a shame that this service was experienced by our service personnel but strangely gratifying that it was also experienced by this Journo, who probably thinks that in his writing about it it might change things.
There are thousands who have had similar experiences, one of my strangest was being forced to fly a scheduled Civ Air flight home from the middle east because of the infrequent and unreliable service AT. Wearing suitable clothing and lugging my bags through customs with the rest of the masses.
I found out afterwards that the initial connecting flight was with a Civ airline whose aircraft are banned from European airspace due to their safety record
It wasn't the flying Civ Air that bothered me, the flight after the connecting one was with BA and that was excellent, it was having to pay for it myself then having to explain to a disbelieving obstinate shiny a*** on my return that I had to fly Civ Air because of the lack of service AT, as I had just 1 week back in Blightey prior to my next overseas tour so could I please have my money back....
I'm sure there will be more episodes of frustration due to the ageing AT fleet. You can only LEAN when theres something to LEAN from.