Jumping off the same fence as Skywatcher, I thought I'd put my tuppenceworth back in.
It takes more than a few aircrew to ensure the safety of flight. There are many people who play an integral part in ensuring that aircraft (be it fast pointy things, wobbly heads or AT) operate safely and effectively. All these people need to be sharp and well supported. The problem as I see it is that as soon as anyone mentions the "H" word, they have lost the argument. Having spent a couple of years working in **** with the SH force, I realised that it was actually quite easy to get a good nights sleep even if we were right next to the runway. The answer then, as now, was ear plugs. However, the key point to note is that, whilst we all should accept poor living conditions at the commencement of a deployment, it gets somewhat irritating and demoralising when, 2 months later, the UK military are still living in the same poor conditions whilst all our coalition partners have invested in reasonable and relatively comfortable infrastructure. An example of this was when the RAF det in Albania in 1999 had to beg the Italian Army for use of their mobile shower facilities as the hugely supportive UK Govenment had failed to invest in the most basic of support assets.
[Oops - spelling]
[ 04 December 2001: Message edited by: Whipping Boy's SATCO ]