A Dark Day for Army Aviation
If this goes ahead it will indeed be a dark day for Army Aviation. As a past member of the "Horizontal Pursuit Squadron", I would hate to see it lose the fixed wing capability. Since leaving the Army I have worked with it in different capacities from maintaining their aircraft to working with them in safety-related positions. I haven't seen a more safety orientated group of professionals and they are no less so than the Navy and Airforce.
IMHO the incidents and accidents they have had are either directly or indirectly a result of the operational tempo they have experienced in the recent past. The quality of their people is no less than those of the other military aviation counterparts (and I have worked with them as well). Lets forget this inter-service rivalry crap. That sort of stuff carries on into the Defence/civilian/government world and only results in bad decisions like this.