The two experienced Chinook Pilots were allocated to the in-theatre support tasks and the inexperienced (on Chinook) RN Pilot was allocated (with an RAF Navigator) to the VIP task.
This was not a VIP task. The most senior rank was planned to be a 2 Star general, whose status would not qualify as a VIP, but he could not make the flight on the day.
Furthermore, no one at Aldergrove knew who the pax were as the pax manifest was retained elsewhere to protect the identities of some of them.
Compared to day-to-day ops in the Province, this was a benign pax run, and the only challenge was the weather.