Sharpend.....to be honest, I'm not impressed in the slightest......and I can only go on what I saw on tv so I won't pretend to have first hand knowledge of the situation up there.........but I can speak with SOME first hand experience. I thought they were inadequately equipped.....their PPE was woeful.......what training do they have? It's not always what you can see that's gonna get you.....there's a lot going on UNDER the water that's gonna bite you on the arse!!!! The other services will have been trained and equipped appropriately.......and paid overtime (I have no issue with that) I know that because it's what I used to do.
To me, it seemed like another case of the government using the armed forces.....singing their praises.......milking the photo opportunities and sound bites, but ultimately, they'll forget about all that when it comes to budget cuts.
I've seen things from both sides and I'm afraid I think successive governments find it too easy to use and then discard our forces personnel......disgraceful actually.
MD