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 The failure to retain experienced men has become the Chief of the General Staff's top priority. This week Tony Blair will be asked to approve interim measures to improve operational conditions for soldiers and their families to try to stem the fall in numbers. 

Some battalions cannot find commanding officers from within their own ranks; since 1992 officer recruitment has been falling so sharply that the army only has 50% of the 24-year-old officers it requires and is 20% short of its 29-year-old officers. The Brigade of Guards is facing the possibility of being commanded by outsiders. "A Parachute Regiment officer commanding a Guards regiment is a fearful prospect," said one senior Guards officer. 

 This year the army recruited only 79% of the officers it needs. Coupled with the departure of high numbers of officers aged between 28 and 36, the officer corps is now seriously unbalanced - the worst-affected regiments are the Army Air Corps, the Royal Army Medical Corps, the Intelligence Corps and the Royal Armoured Corps. 

Duncan Bailey left the army as a major seven months ago because he did not want his young family to suffer: 'The main issue for me was the stability of family life and my children's education. They would have to change schools every two years unless we sent them to boarding school  which we didn't want to do. These two factors alone are demotivating many people in the army." 

 The outflow of staff, which stands at 1,400 a year, is a big financial drain since it costs £40,000 to train each soldier. Other key personnel, including NCOs, are also deserting the army, citing poor pay and difficult conditions for families. 

 "We are conscious that junior corporals arid privates, who are married with children, are living perilously near the poverty line," a Ministry of Defence officer said this weekend. "If we expect them to remain in the army, they need financial help." 

As part of the strategic defence review announced last June, intended to increase the ability to mount rapid operations worldwide, the army was ordered to find 3,500 additional soldiers by 2002. Ministry sources say the army has now put back the restructuring until at least 2008 or 2009. 

Army planners say there are 6,089 established posts that cannot be filled, plus 2,000 jobs that are being covered by other people and more than 2,000 further vacancies caused by soldiers who are sick, on courses or away from their units. 

Once the extra troops required by the strategic defence review are included in the figures, bringing the total to 105,000 trained soldiers, the army will be short of about 14,000 troops  - 15% of its trained personnel.