Surely everyone can acknowledge that in the past, over many years in fact, military support to the civil power has been utilised. SAR aircraft haven't always been used for under slung loads in the past when military SAR had the watch, SH crews did their bit then just as they are now. Please don't make out that the use of SH in a crisis as we are experiencing now is suddenly new in a civil emergency because SAR is now no longer a military task!