Helidriver,
Nice try in raising awareness for the AAC boys (and girls)-but obviously lost in the noise. There is no doubt that over the summer significant acts of bravery took place in Afghanistan and I for one am very proud that when it counted that everyone stepped up to the plate.
But you must surely recognise that honours and awards are all driven by political motivation - and I am not talking 'cash for honours' which leaves a really bad taste in the mouths of those that have genuinely earned theirs-and not just allegedly made a huge donation to a political party.
But on a lesser scale the fact that the AAC did not get any of the bravery awards (MBE/DSO/DFC etc) over the Chinnie boys is that those in the positions of power are trying to raise awareness for the over used, under resourced SH capability. No one is listening to the numerous papers being written at 1 star level and above on the SH lift shortfall or the now nearly forgotten 2004 NAO report critisicing the Govt for a woeful lack of SH lift.
Lets be honest, the AH capability has had significant investment of resources and because it is new and shiney and instantly grabs the medias attention it is always in the publics eye (and therefore also the public opion conscious Govt).
So therefore all of these awards to the Chinnie boys get the whole SH piece back into the public arena and just remind the politicians who are very quick to forget Theatres along way from home - exactly what is going on and why continued investment in SH is required - and if you have served with a Chinnie Det you will know exactly which areas require investment yesterday!!
Lets be honest, no other way has made the blindest bit of difference!
From listening to mates recording their tales, without a shadow of a doubt they all openly and honestly state that they would not have been able to even begin to do their brave stuff without UK Apaches being embedded with them and providing the fire support when required. They all really appreciated what has obviously been a success for Teeney Weenies despite some disbelievers and doubters.
Maybe Helidriver you can cut us some slack on this one - within the Joint community we have had to suffer and lose resources in order to try and bring you into the professional (and not flying club) aviation environment - now you can just suck your teeth while we try and regain some investment for us.
But hey, you guys didn't go unrecognised I saw that an AAC Lt Col got an OBE and according to the guys in the bar he was instrumental in the success of the whole JHF(A).
