The mood was very much "what now?" I don't recollect any significant changes other than there was an understanding that the party would now be coming to an end and there was a likelihood of cuts. Personally, I never saw draw-down as I was posted back to UK within a year.
At Gutersloh our station commander (Ian Stewart) stood up in the officers' mess and told us that he thought there would be a decade of uncertainty. Some of the ADIZ procedures changed but flying ops continued broadly as before. Indeed, I recollect flying one border patrol (something we did quite regularly) and noting how quickly holes were being bulldozed in the fence. Many of us spent time staring at Trabants which were percolating across the border.
I think that real change commenced when GW1 started as this moved the focus and made us think about something other than the IGB (people were actually getting shot down). This also slowed-down the cuts that Whitehall was considering. We staggered into the Balkans and subsequently GW2 without any clear direction from government. The Labour Party attempted to define the boundaries and managed to deliver SDR in 1998 (1 LS, 2MS or 4 SS) but this was largely irrelevant before the ink dried.
In hindsight Ian Stewart's ten years was way off the mark; some 25 years later there is still no steady state in terms of national strategy. What are we going to do with a big flat top? Is there really a need for so much SH (you can never have too much SH!)? What should the vehicle fleet look like? About the only 'no brainer' capabilities to retain are the Nuclear Deterrant, AD and MPA (:oops
