They have been derided as “big babies” who are too choosy about the jobs they will consider, and now Italy’s millennials have been accused of fleeing the rigours of life in the army.

Young people are failing to adapt to the discipline of military life and leaving in droves, according to Salvatore Farina, the Italian army’s chief of staff.

The number of new recruits who abandon the selection procedure has nearly doubled in recent years, he told parliament in Rome this week.

Young people were increasingly finding it difficult to “deal with authority and to adapt to a rigorous and disciplined regime,” the general told the parliamentary defence commission.

Many found it hard to be away from their families, disliked “the lack of comfort” in barracks life and struggled to “adapt to the new timetable” of a career in the forces, according to questionnaires conducted by the army.