Seven thousand troops are currently “on the sick” - but those waiting to see a dentist would be sent to war “if the balloon went up”, a Defence Minister revealed today.
James Heappey told MPs some soldiers were waiting for dental appointments - meaning they were not counted as being ready to fight.
But, if war broke out, they would be sent into battle, he insisted.
The minister’s pledge came as he was grilled on Army cuts, with soldier numbers being slashed from 82,000 to 72,500 following a decision in the last Integrated Review.
They currently stand at 75,933 “trained, regular personnel”, Mr Heappey told MPs.
But he refused to say how many could be deployed tomorrow.
Asked “what percentage are on the sick”, he admitted: “As I understand there’s about 10% that are non-deployable because of long-term injury. There will be a number that are ill.”
But he added: “Take for example dental fitness, which can be - not to deprioritise the importance of the health of your teeth - but if you were to look at the readiness stats, you’ll get a lot of people that are awaiting a dental appointment.
“If the balloon went up we would send those people to war without having seen a dentist.”
Earlier, Mr Heappey was quizzed about the looming Integrated Review of defence, security and foreign policy, which will be published on Monday.
He signalled there would be no reversal of the decision to cut Challenger 2 tank numbers from 227 to 148, which will be upgraded to Challenger 3.
Fourteen are being sent to Ukraine
Instead, he said many of those which will not be modernised have already been stripped for spare parts.
“There’s no plan to upgrade them, there’s no plan to use them again. There has been a lot of cannibalisation,” he admitted.
But the document could force a rethink over other cuts.
“Very obviously, if the conflict in Ukraine proves we made the wrong call two or three years ago, that’s something we’ve always been open to looking at again,” he told MPs.
“The lessons from Ukraine need to be learnt and that might lead to mean that we change our minds on the decision.
“But it might not.”
Mr Heappey said there had been “some robust exchanges with the Treasury in public” over funding for the armed services due to be announced in Wednesday's Budget.
He added: “There have been some even more robust exchanges behind closed doors."
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