And the cracks are starting to show - some very high quality ex-mil rear crew have chosen to move to different contracts and I believe they are struggling massively to find a rearcrew leader for Inverness.
Just pay them properly Bristow!
WTF is a Rearcrew leader? There are three 'management' jobs on each base, Chief pilot, Chief Crewman and Chief Engineer. In an ideal world these would be filled with personnel who had previous experience of civ aviation preferably with mil aviation before that. If you take someone straight from from the mil there is a great tendency for them to adopt the 'we used to do it this way in the RAF/RN etc', a most undesirable outcome.
I agree that the rear crew should be better remunerated, but I also think that some of the very senior crewman types were being way above the going rate due to PAS etc. The need for a paramedic is also questionable; the amount of ground training dedicated to maintaining these skills versus the benefit to the punters in the back of an a/c is debatable. An enhanced medical qualification for sure, but paramedic?, especially with the proliferation of Air Ambulance with their massively qualified trauma doctors. I understand they may not pitch up on the side of a hill in the Cuillins, but how often do our rear crew 'stay and play' in that environment?