Seak1ng
No mention of what is happening to the RAF MRS. It wouldn't free up many people at all as only about 30 are full-time (8 on each of the 4 teams and some in the HQ); the majority of these are liable for op deployments in line with their peers anyway. The vast majority are part-timers in 'day jobs' who fulfill there MRS duties (2 weekends out of 4 training and 1hr NTM during the week) in addition to their primary duties. To put it another way, the permanent staff cadre or the MRS is roughly the same size as the Band of the Adjutant General's Corps (or many other military bands).
If the decision was taken to disband them then something would need to fill their APCM role. They provide the crash guard for the first 24-48 hours enabling the nominated Station to generate its PCM capability. I can't see a civvy MRT hanging around too look after a pile of smoking (and dangerous) wreckage. So long as military APCM remains a military responsibility, the RAF will need to generate teams of people on short NTM who can deploy rapidly and be trained and equipped to operate in some arduous conditions (crashes have a tendency to happen in some remote places).
Last edited by Climebear; 29th Nov 2011 at 06:07.