Bismark - could you point out which studies showed we are vastly overmanned?
Without wishing to come across as terribly single service, but I currently work alongside the Army and even they are now acknowledging that they cannot justify their current numbers in the post cold war era . As such they are looking to slim down a lot of their cold war logs chain that was needed to support the heavy armour and artillery units that will rarely be called for in future.
If 30,000 and a handfull of sqns is overmanned, then what commitments do you propose we drop? Because frankly, we are struggling at the moment to meet those commitments with what we do have; we will meet the commitments levied on us, but there is little to no flexibility or capacity to do anything else at the same time.