S41 - I am in complete agreement. My quoting Blackadder was to illustrate the pointlessness of our position post SDSR. Our lords and masters have taken 'do more with less' to its logical conclusion.
Is the force size commensurate with the size of the Army, or with stated UK aspirations?
Neither, IMHO. There was no Defence Estimate prior to SDSR so our size and capability compared to what the Army is expected to do has not been worked out; there was no guidance from the FCO as to what our posture in the World order was to be, so none of the Services knows exactly what they are supposed to be able to achieve. We have merely had our suit cut to fit the cloth that HMT has made available. That suit might look nice in Town but will not last 5 minutes on safari, though we should get some use out of it in the country.
Don't forget that the remainder of the '6 sqn FJ force' still has to train, work up for ops, contribute to NATO and defend the home base whilst whatever portion of the force is deployed. That suit is starting to look a little threadbare already, isn't it?
(I have flogged that metaphor to death now, haven't I?)