Mingundiplomat has hit the nail firmly on the head. Whilst Defence cuts of the sixties and even the infamous beating of '75 had a profound effect, it is quite possible that we were overmanned and could afford the housekeeping.
The blank cheques dissapeared with GW1 and the overswing of new found budgets promoted a 'Cannot do' culture, alien to military ethos. Blunties rapidly became the master-race and the front line became (wrongly) insignificantly secondary to Pounds, Shillings and Pence. There should be no surprise that the present day loss of life is attributed rightly or wrongly to insufficient equipment for both personnel and task.
One needs to be aware that few contributers to Pprune have experience of the military prior to the mid seventies, and those that do are often overwhelmed with the nostalgia of once belonging to an armed force built upon a pride difficult to find nowadays. Apologies if that sounds over patronising; perhaps the sentiment could have been worded better.