We're not at war, nor are we going to be at war. It is likely that there will be a contained conflict within Iraq and British forces may, or may not it seems, be involved in an active combat role. This isn't 1939 and we don't need all hands to battle stations to survive this. There is ample capacity within the UK aviation industry to cover all likely eventualities in the Gulf without the need to endanger lives further through cost-cutting. Jingoistic fervour does nobody any favours right now.