I must say I find some of the anger being spouted here very depressing. No one likes change, no one likes to see a fine military role come to an end, but the reality is that times are changing.
SAR has all but ceased to be a military task, it is to all intents and purposes a very much civilian orientated emergency service role. While the SAR force exists, pressures on our very stretched budget will continue for the simple reason that the SAR force occupies the same public mindset as the Reds - too high profile, cant be touched in a major way.
At the same time, there is barely controlled hysteria in some quarters about call out charges. Lets be clear here - every taxpayer in this country pays the callout charge at present through our taxes. Its not a magically free service, we all pay for it. If charges are raised for call outs (and I've yet to see anything implying this would actually happen), then the costs are lying where they fall. We expect people to pay for travel insurance overseas to cover medivac, so why should we expect to get SAR without paying for it? If this makes people a bit more aware of the major costs associated with running this capability, and more willing to not call in for helicopter rescue for very spurious reasons (oh my GPS doesnt work, I'm tired, I need to go to a meeting etc), then perhaps thats a good thing.
Finally, I find the attitude of some that only the Mil has a monopoly on dangerous flying disheartening. I've flown with the RAF and RN many times over the years, often in some very high risk situations. I quite literally owe my life to the efforts of an RAF crew after an operational theatre flight. But, I do not think that the military community has the monoply on being able to fly bravely or do SAR. A grave disservice is being done to the aviators and maintainers who are not mil, by the arrogance of some to refuse to accept that just because you arent military doesnt mean you can't do the job.