Then we was more of an ignorant fool than I thought him to be.
This was the legacy of "Tripwire" where 11Gp only had to perform air policing and hold the line till the V-force flushed. Once Tripwire was replaced by "Flexible Response" it was still anticipated that we only had to hold till the Russians reached the Channel when it would go nuclear anyway.
The RAF was based around the 3 day war in concept and in practice. Taceval was always 3 days - Day 1 transition to war, Day 2 conventional war, Day 3 survival scramble and shelter posture, Endex. No dedicated guard force because it was supplied by Admin etc as we could operate without these for 3 days; only enough crews and missiles for the same period etc.
The fli side was that whilst the Russians theoretically had the aircraft to attack the UK around North Cape their role for the Badgers and Backfires was tactical and based on use in the Central Region and the Bears would have been Carrier Battle Group hunting.
As the wry joke went at the time - they pretended they were a threat and we pretended to defend against them.........