I agree with most of what MM4 has said although the perception is that the AH64 storage issue was born of an over ambitious declaration by the AAC regarding how quickly CR Crews could be 'created'. This was during the p*ss*g contest between Crabair v Tiny Weenie as to who was going to operate (read control) AH. Either way, that is now history and the present situation is what it is.
I wonder if UK Govt Plc is not keeping a very close eye on the global standing of nations withdrawing now from Afghanistan with a view to prematurely pulling our own plug. Radical I know, but we are bankrupt and we are leaving capability gaps wide open regarding UK Defence at the detriment of fighting a war that we simply cannot afford. There appears to be no 'blinkers off' judgement in military policy these days.
Back to the thread, what will become of the civvies employed at DHFS for their numbers were raised in response to the perceived need for additional students. If the uniformed staff are returned to Front Line cabs leaving civvies only at DHFS it will be a real bad day. The flip side is the shear ammount of PVR within the SH community at this time from Benson and especially Odiham rear crew. Guys so hacked off that they are not prepared to wait for redundancy. If this trend continues, new blood is essential and so the circle is complete. I was not at the pre-christmas DHFS morale booster but would love to be a fly-on-the-wall for the silence by those that were is deafening.