Lord Charles Guthrie told The Sunday Telegraph that the British army "has become dangerously small for what it is being asked to do."

"Of course, if you have too small an army you can't react," said Guthrie, a former chief of both the army general staff and the defense staff who holds the title of colonel commandant of the Special Air Service.

His comments were published a day ahead of the expected announcement of government restructuring plans for the armed forces.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour government has already detailed its plans to reduce troop numbers and merge several regiments, in reforms which are expected to save 250 million pounds (480 million dollars, 360 million euros) per year, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

Guthrie countered that "none of them (in the cabinet) has been in the military and politicans do not understand nowadays that the army is not just another job."

A Minister of Defence spokesman quoted by the newspaper said the army would actually have "more boots on the ground" because of efficiency-minded restructuring.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.