Kennyr, having been involved in Op Corporate (see earlier post) and shared an aircraft with guys returning from the Sir Galahad disaster I am well aware of the seriousness of war. The "beer and fart" theory may well be a crude way of expressing it but there is no doubt that a strong sense of humour, again often crude, is a considerable asset to the British forces. I sometimes think that if some of the world leaders could take themselves less seriously then many conflicts could be avoided.
As far as the initial question is concerned, now as then, we Brits suffer from a grave lack of modern equipment but have a remarkable ability to make the very most of what we do have with good humour. Whether this is enough is for others to say but they need more that smooth talk from those that provide.