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Top brass said 7,200 troops could not be deployed abroad because of health matters while a further 9,910 are limited in the roles and tasks they can perform on foreign exercises and operations. Military experts warned Britain’s ability to field a frontline fighting force was limited as a result with untrained personnel and under-18s also ineligible for overseas postings. An army source said several infantry units are now operating with as little as half their target workforce.

Thinking that even a tiny 82,000-man army could all be fielded together is a myth General Sir Richard Barrons

The former head of the army Lord Dannatt said: “I find the figures very disappointing.” Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the figures beggared belief and were “very worrying”. He said having limited deployment capability among “20 per cent of an army the size we’ve got now — which is very small” was a huge amount. He told The Times it would affect Britain’s ability to deter enemies by suggesting that defence was not taken seriously.

British soldiers join Nato exercises in Georgia

And he said those soldiers who could be deployed were “at risk of being overworked so that in some places they vote with their feet” and quit the forces. General Sir Richard Barrons, former head of Joint Forces Command, said: “Thinking that even a tiny 82,000-man army could all be fielded together is a myth. The people don’t exist because of under-recruiting and the numbers that are always non-deployable for one reason or another. “There is not enough equipment, spares, engineering support or training capacity to field it all at once — nor is there a resourced mobilisation plan for the reserves if they were called up. “This is a legacy of the campaigns of the past 20 years, needing only part of the Army at a time. It doesn’t fit the world as it is now.”

British soldiers in training