RAF set the standards?!
My dear Crab
Just to be naughty, may I remind you that it's the RN that have been setting the standards for SAR over the last few years. There's a little outfit tucked away in Jockland at the top of the heap by a fair margin (again).
Good on Crab for keeping the debate spicy - it wouldn't be PPrune if it didn't degenerate into a slanging match eventually.
It's a shame the civ's feel so precious about their tenure - anyone who knows the likes of the ex-RN SAR pilots/divers working out there knows they're all bon oeufs who can do the business. One probably couldn't say quite the same for the ex-mil non-SAR boys who always find the going tough for a while.
We might as well start dissing the sidewalkers for their lack of spunk when it comes to taking the MR off the hill post-job, or their average age being too old to actually get a job with CHC et al!!!
SB