I will agree that the SAR Force is a much bigger affair than the good old SAR Wing that we knew and loved, but that is the price of progress and it has at least allowed some of our brighter guys to get noticed without having to move to the SH Force
Oh dear Myra! Is not the price of progress the fact that the entire top heavy edifice and drastically reduced capability, which the brighter guys designed and got noticed in, is about to be sh1t canned?
Crews always did come out of SKTU with a LCR CAT after 3 1/2 months (in my day). I was on shift as a co-pilot two days after my arrival at Brawdy. As far as working with outside agencies goes, my local lifeboat is lucky if they see a helicopter more than once a year, compared with once a month at least in the past.
As I'm sure you are aware, SAR Wing was commanded by one Wg Cdr. There were two Sqns commanded by two Sqn Ldrs and a total of nine flights. Any reasonable 'bright guy' would have perhaps suggested that one Sqn of six flights was perfectly feasible; up the rank to Sqn Ldr Flight Commanders and make the boss a WgCo if you must. The only real improvements which occured during my time on SAR was the paramedic qual for winchmen and the adoption of NVG's. Procedural IR's were a complete waste of time and money and were instigated by other bright guys with eyes on civil licences.
Sadly the IR doesn't appear to count outside!