Well that did not last very long. Perhaps it is seen as suitable time to bury the 10% pay increase headlines by whoever on the inside gave Reprieve the nudge to put in the FOI request.
Anyway, "operating as foreign troops" as an exchange officer is not true nor is "the fact that the UK seems to have turned over its personnel to the US wholesale" as blindly guessed by Reprieve. A formal request for involvement is made by the host nation, UK approval is granted (or not) and specific ROE and legal guidelines are developed as required. Regardless of whether your own nation is already deployed in the theatre in question referral to the UK is always required before any operational deployment with your host nation.
Yes it is a big deal as the exchange officer is a member of the team in harms way not because of what Parliament think they voted against or not. The situation has changed since Parliament voted and the fight is now focused in the correct area. In fact, on reading this, I am not sure if Parliament really know if it should have been either:
Research Briefings - Parliamentary approval for military action
As usual there is a 'need to know' creep that achieves nothing but to make completing the mission more difficult and above all more dangerous for the personnel involved. Thanks.
On the exchange comedy note, NORAD QRA is strangely not an option. Requests to join in the fun have been made and no serious answer was ever received. Just the standard 'it has always been like that' which is also not true. My favourite was being told that whilst I could generate and act on Sniper footage in cockpit I was not allowed to watch it back in the debrief as the debrief facility was NOFORN. It now isn't.