Myra
Please lighten up. Everyone will will agree that it is a compromise having civilian engineers. The best solution would be to have some Merlins/Chinooks out there with some reach, but day-to-day the 412s will cover the basics of SAR, some SH and the former tasking of the AAC Flt and will fit into the garrison quite well.
Merlins or Chinooks out there would be undertasked, but people are just having their say. It is regrettable that military groundcrew will be lost, but it is economics. Many of us would give their right arm for your job, especially as it is a different front line to NI/Kosovo/Bosnia/Afghanistan.
You might not want some of the people who post here, but they are just voicing concerns, just like in any crew room.
Enjoy your tour.