GBZ I think the quote that seals it is :
"This a time when you have to support the economy," he said. "You will see us switching our spending priorities to areas which make a difference."
The military do not 'make a difference' in this context so expect more pressure to hand back the Defence vote to the Treasury.
Starting with this perhaps from Seakinger's link:
" The MoD argues that the children of all service personnel are eligible for the Continuity of Education Allowance, which reimburses up to 90 per cent of school fees. But ministers are so concerned about this system that the defence minister Kevan Jones has ordered a review."
That should help stave off all those PVRs and option point departures . . . . .
Getting back to the thread.
Whilst everyone was focused on the issue of helicopters and winches, what about the basic training the guys had? If there were no helicopters available, what was their Plan B? How could a ground unit deploy to Afg (of all places) and
not expect to encounter minefields and train their personnel how to extract themselves from one?
BTW I also thought the Admiral made a valiant effort to explain the issues rather than respond to the near hysterical ranting of the interviewer.