How many times have you seen an SOP or standard procedure which was less than perfect make it into the order books? Lots I would guess, despite being staffed up and down the chain. If they were all so perfect we would never have to review or change them but that happens all the time. Hiding behind the 'I was just following SOPs' excuse when there is clearly a risk involved (unacceptable or otherwise) is selecting ostrich mode when faced with an inconvenient truth. I believe one of the functions of the Flight Safety aware is to question something when you think it could be done better and this is what I am doing here.
Everyone can be wise AFTER the event.
Even the mighty USMC are not beyond doing things wrong (they crash and bend aircraft just like the rest of us) but if they injured someone carrying out this procedure, they would investigate it and doubtless change the SOP. Or maybe Nick would rather they bare their hairy chests and say 'well we only lost one guy in 30 years, it must be OK' before returning to the way they have always done things.
Finally - if you had to design a procedure for getting a stuck nosewheel on a helo down at sea - would it be the same one they are using? Or could you come up with something better/safer?