Ex coelis: Great points.
Your comments on the problems in the CAR echo my own external observations over the years, but as a non-member of that unit, I was extremely reluctant to post them here in too much detail, because it remains such a sensitive issue for so many people. Suffice it to say, you have identified the core of the problem. This problem was well known for years (I first heard about it as Assistant Adjutant of 1 PPCLI when the CO of the day announced at an O Gp that the PPCLI battalions were being asked to stop sending their "problem children" to 3 Cdo.) MGen (Retd) Holmes (an officer I have the highest respect for...) mentioned it during his testimony at the Somalia Inquiry. I a;lso had a CSM who came to me directly from the Cdo, who filled me in on some of the problems. As you have also correctly identified, there were some excellent soldiers in 3 Cdo and they did not deserve to be tarnished with the same brush as the sickies and criminals. IIRC,Colonel Kenward was well into the "reform" process (as only he could be...) when the axe fell, and thus the only lasting image in the public mind was that the whole CAR were criminals.
On the pension issue, I am not sure that our anger is properly directed at the military chain of command: most people I have ever encountered who were in a position to do so, normally have done all they can to give a soldier the benefit of the doubt and not really interested in "doing" a soldier out of a pension. IMHO the actual problem arises in the civil bureaucracy, outside DND, where the real decisions are made. However, the penetration of the "blame/entitlement" or "victim" mentality into the military has led to some terrible fraud attempts being perpetrated: I know of at least one in our Bde which was, thankfully, brought to an honest conclusion despite the best efforts of the individual to defraud the system in a very cynical way. Unfortunately, much as with our PTSD situation, a few of these cases screw it for those who have legitimate problems.
Cheers.