Strait_Jacket
War hero
Didn't the plod have a protest march recently? How are squaddies different from the police in that respect?
Our elected representatives aren't physically terrified of the Police. Despite the fact that no former or serving soldier is ever going to storm Parliament, their sheer presence in large numbers outside (and not under the direction of the normal military CoC) means they couldn't be stopped if they chose to. Politicians understandably get nervous about that kind of thing..
Back in the real world where 2RRF are not launching a revolution, the imagery of such a protest would be politically catastrophic for the government, give all MP's a case of the vapors and probably result in even greater damage to the broader military long term. While Labour would make hay with it in opposition you can bet they'd be thinking about what further reductions were required to make sure it never happened again on their watch.
It's a shitty situation for the RRF but any large scale protest will likely do lasting damage to HMF when political retribution is served.