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It will take more than sending rescue/logistics assets to Nepal or winching a Korean sailor off a fishing boat to shift the public gaze back to the military. A fickle lot, aren't they?
Ask a voter what they think of things in the UK Armed Forces today and the first things that come to their heads will, most likely, be bad news like AB McN.
A couple of years ago it would have been very different. Five years ago even more so
CM..
The public perception of the military is, to a great extent, influenced by the military themselves.
For most of the public, Defence is a low priority in terms of interest. Why should it be, when, in effect, the military are no longer getting the prominence in the media that conflict,
any conflict over the years, generates.
With the various reductions over the years, unless you happen to live within the proximity of an established military area, all Services, the public are unlikely to encounter military personnel on a regular basis. That, and when the PIRA were active on the UK mainland military personnel were banned from travelling in uniform, then in effect, they faded from the public gaze.
Most people now simply associate the military with ceremonial / commemorative events / The Red Arrows / the former yellow SAR force and that's only for the RAF element.
That, and the military really do need to engage in some serious introspection when it comes to the public. The example I witnessed of the Shrivenham so called "elite" was
the most appalling piece of
PR possible. Imagine the perception of the public, when confronted with say 80+ 2.5 / 3 rings officers and their arrogance in the hotel. That image will last a long time in people's memories.
Equally, whilst you now see personnel in uniform and certainly at motorway services, whilst they may be polite,
en masse they are quite intimidating and many seem unable to grasp they are in a public area, not on a base. I have witnessed on innumerable occasions, the public moving away from outlets until the military have left or been served.
Why, therefore, should they be interested in Defence. Why should anybody who is compelled to use a food bank to survive, or who has had their benefits cut to the bone, and please, whilst there are those who abuse the system, the majority do not, have even the remotest interest in the acquisition of the next "must have" wonder kit?.
Likewise the millions who are simply working to exist.
The fact is, for the public whom you describe as being fickle, the salient fact is that the military are but one aspect of life in the UK as a whole, nothing more, and for many, they very low on their list of daily interests and priorities.