A salient point from Michael Yon, embedded with the UK's 2 Rifles.

I was up on a watch post with a soldier from Ghana while we waited for soldiers who have been fighting to return to base. The war is serious here; earlier in the day, another soldier from 2 Rifles had been killed upriver at Kajaki. Though morale in the U.K. seems to be slipping, I see no evidence of low morale among the soldiers, though there are increasing grumbles that they don’t get mail from loved ones due to helicopter shortages. Helicopters are one of our great advantages against myriad disadvantages, yet our combat forces are shortchanged by penny-wise, pound-foolish governments. [emphasis mine]

There's an old infantry axiom that cautions "if you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn't plan your mission properly." Rapid air mobility in the Hindu Kush is the one great unfair advantage our troops enjoy against the Afghan insurgency, which moves as freely through the indigenous population as we move through the air. The Soviets were all too aware of that advantage back during their unsuccessful foray south of their border. "We do not fear the Soviets," said one Mujahadeen, "but we do fear their helicopters." The United States military has plenty of birds, particularly with the new influx of Marine air power, but the British are left wanting -- the end result of a decade of unchecked defense cuts. That will cost Labour dearly in the next election.