llamaman - don't confuse the empire-building (of which there has been a great deal) with the continued push to maintain the highest standards of flying in SAR.
There are plenty of us with no career aspirations who pride ourselves in keeping the standard of the front-line SAR crews as high as possible - that doesn't happen by itself nor does it happen by sitting on your laurels saying 'this is the way we have always done it so that is fine'.
I have been fortunate to work with some outstandingly professional individuals from all ranks and specialisations in the RAF SAR Force and, despite the naysayers, our track record in maritime, mountain, inland and urban search and rescue is outstanding.
Who else has a standards organisation that does no-notice Opevals, checks every SAR flt every 18 months, are specifically requested by overseas govts to assess their own SAR capability and monitor both the training organisations and the operational ones?
Doesn't happen by accident and it continues despite the empire building BS.