One in 20 troops 'medically unfit for combat'

The document says five per cent of the Army's 102,000 personnel were no longer fit to be deployed in action.

It is anticipated the worst affected 1,500 troops would be discharged first, with another 750 per annum for the next few years.

While "only a proportion of those discharged are likely to have been injured on operations... this number is likely to grow as operations in Afghanistan continue", the document said.

The MoD refused to comment on the leaked document, but a spokesman played down suggestions that a mass cull of injured troops was in the offing and insisted there was no quota for numbers to leave the Army.

"The number of soldiers medically discharged is done on a case by case basis and it is inappropriate to speculate on future numbers," said the spokesman.

Earlier this year, the MoD unveiled a 70m project to help injured troops to either remain in the forces or make a transition to civilian life.

The Army Recovery Capability scheme envisaged 12 "personnel recovery units" around the UK providing programmes aimed at either getting them fit to return to a military post or preparing them for life outside the Armed Forces.

Launching the programme in February, General Sir David Richards, the head of the Army, said: "I confidently expect that no soldier who thinks it is in his interest to stay will be forced out."

But the new document, drawn up by a civil servant at UK Land Forces HQ in Wiltshire and circulated to ministers, senior MoD officials and Army top brass, suggested that the discharge of injured troops was likely to prove controversial.

Entitled Management of Army Personnel who are Medically Unfit for Service, it conceded that discharges of injured troops may be seen as the "MoD discarding those who have sacrificed much on our behalf".

Afghanistan veteran Lance Corporal Ben Parkinson, from Doncaster, is still in the Parachute Regiment after losing both legs and sustaining many other injuries from a landbine explosion in Helmand.

But he is expected to go into a PRU early next year, which could see him discharged from the army. It has already been ruled that to stay in his regiment he would need to be able to function to the same capabilities as other soldiers.

His mother Diane Durnie said: "We are living in fear. Ben has been so positive and upbeat but the blow that he will have to leave the Army will be the worst thing that could happen to him and there are many boys in the same position.

"We are of the belief that if a boy is injured fighting for his country and wants to remain in the Army, a job should be found for him," she said.