Goeffers
Given your post, I accept that you did not intend to cause offense, but as you say yourself, lets keep the emotion out of it, so please think a little about how your comments can appear to others.
As to the rest, I refer you to the last 2 paras of my previous post, I have been out of the military and SAR for several years. All I would like to see is a properly run, equipped and funded, national helicopter SAR service, that maintains, or enhances, the current level of coverage and capability, NOT a situation which is spun or twisted to make it look that way, when it isn't, whoever is providing it.
If it is correctly resourced, the organisation running it is almost irrelevent. Other countries run successful services that are either provided by the civil sector, the military, or a combination. We found money for banks, you would hope that someone would feel that this is a priority.
As to Afganistan, yes the crews would probably be useful, after some pre-deployment training, the aircraft? - if my memory serves, the dear old HAR3 is not, in any way, equipped for the task.
Apparently we could have had rather a lot of BlackHawks about a year or so ago. All enquiries about where that all went wrong should be addressed to Mr G Brown, Chief Miser to the MoD, London. Which is probably where all of this is going to come un-glued as well.