Glad Rag asked:
"So.....when we disengage from the governments foreign adventures and the Army get fired en masse, just what are we going to do with 60 plus chinnys (apart from rob then blind)?"
Simples. Give the British Army (and Royal Marines, and occasionally RAF) the support they need. For example battlefield mobility, resupply, CASEVAC etc.
Whilst statistics have a bad reputation, a 'back of the fag packet' calculation puts the CH47to soldiers ratio in US Army at 1 x CH47 per 1250 soldiers. The British Army/RM get 1 x CH47 for every 2100. (I know we have ME, PU and SK too, but then US have CH53 and UH60 before we count USMC 22s, UH1 and CH53).
Even 60 x CH47 only reduces the gap to 1 x CH47 for every 1416 soldiers (in a 85,000 man Army).
Batco
With apologies to cigarette packets, statisticians, and PU/ME/SK crews.