Roofus if you read your own post you will se that you have said grubbing around in foul weather looking for people who are not 'life at risk' is irresponsible. I suggest that lots of the people in the Gloucester floods were not strictly 'life at risk' but they were very glad to see a yellow helicopter that night when the cloudbase was 2-300' in heavy rain - would you have turned back from that one?
As others have said, NVG gives an enormous increase in capability, both overland and sea and it is much, much safer to be using goggles than not. As risk assessments go, when you can see the weather before you fly into it and see all the obstructions and hazards, you are much better placed to make a good captaincy decision (which may or may not be to turn back). As Tallsar said, some of the stuff that was done in the mountains before NVG was very scary.
I'm not sure why you believe we are more at risk from pressonitis than you - that implies a lack of professionalism on our part - we often use the MRT and wait below the cloud for them to recover the casualty - sometimes we go into the cloud if the casualty's condition demands it - guess what? we all want to get home for tea and medals as well and are not about to throw caution to the wind.
SARREMF has changed his tune since he was a crab like me
That's life in an armani suit I guess
