Absolutely agree. I never expected to be able to vote for the Government when I lived in Spain.

I AM British however, so entitled to and exercised my right to vote for the Government in the UK.

I agree with your counter point too. In war time the service personnel can be away from the UK for years - I hope no-one is suggesting their vote should have been taken away? Who contributes more to the UK - someone who lives abroad, but still pays taxes at home - or someone (and I realise it's not something most choose) who never works and just claims benefit?
One other thing - a Brit who lives abroad is always an ambassador for their country. They may not always realise it, but they have a duty to represent their country in a decent way - unless of course they change nationality.

I don't know about now but when I served in the forces 22 years you had to nominate a proxy voter to vote on your behalf. If you were in the UK I believe if you wanted to vote you had to remove your proxy voter and then when you went abroad again you would have had to re nominate a proxy voter. I nominated my mother and to be honest never changed it until I bought our own home which was about 15 years after I joined up, reason being I spent 11 1/2 years of those 15 overseas.