Mercian Regiment soldiers avoid Army cuts

Up to 5,300 soldiers are to be made redundant in the summer as part of plans to reduce the strength of the regular Army to 82,000 by 2020.

Redundancy notices will be issued on June 18 but the Government said anyone preparing for, serving on, or recovering from operations on that date will not lose their jobs unless they have applied for redundancy.

The 3rd Battalion The Mercian Regiment (the Staffords) are training for deployment to the front line in Afghanistan before British troops are withdrawn from that conflict in 2014 so only those who volunteer for redundancy would be considered.

3Mercian is set to be lost during the reorganisation and its troops will be merged with the 1st and 2nd Battalions of The Mercian Regiment. But Army chiefs have vowed that soldiers serving with units scheduled to cease to exist as a result of the cuts will not be specifically targeted.

One serving soldier said: "More military job losses are still in the pipeline." And the Ministry of Defence warned that further cuts to the Royal Navy and RAF medical and dental personnel together with additional Army redundancies are "likely."

This summer's redundancies are the third and largest wave to hit services. The first tranche in September 2011 saw 2,860 forces personnel made redundant, the second in June 2012 involved 3,760.

Defence Minister Mark Francois confirmed: "No-one who is serving on specified operations on the day the redundancy notices are issued on June 18 2013 will be made redundant unless they are applicants."

By John Scott