I grew up in a rural part of Northern Ireland where my grandmother ran a non-sectarian pub where catholic and protestant farmers would hang out. RAF Chinooks and Pumas would occasionally land in a secluded field nearby ostensibly to offload patrols, but it was mostly cover to go to a normal pub.

Pubs in towns tended to be one side, or the other. While some soldiers colluded with loyalists, the vast majority just had a shitty, boring deployments. Officer effort went into keeping people in barracks. Much like it is with low ranks in the US Army, officers had to invest time preventing privates getting themselves into fights and low-level trouble. Trouble was multiplied with privates that had zero understanding of either side in the Troubles. Hence, the appetite to spend tax payer money on helicopter excursions.