Ex grunt, your argument is sound. It is simply the perception of the crews available for tasking that is different.
The allocation of crew is decided 'in house'. On that day the crews, themselves determined who would do the NI task, and who would do the VIP task.
Remember, all CH47 crews deployed to NI in the pre-cease fire days were fully up to speed and competent in operating in that theatre.
Therefore, if you have a VIP task of some importance for the resolution of the 'conflict' that you are presently involved in, would you not put forward the crew with the extra bit of experience? Bearing in mind the crew that is carrying out the NI tasking is more than capable of doing so?