Army cuts 'a bit of a gamble' as Britain prepares for new Africa terror battle John Baron, a Tory MP, joined the criticism, saying scaling back defence capabilities is "a bit of a gamble" given the recent events in north Africa and the "unpredictable world." Their comments came after the Army set out plans to slash another 5,300 posts as part of the Coalition's defence cuts. It is the third "tranche" of Army sackings, which will cut the regular Army from 102,000 posts to around 82,000. Labour today questioned whether there will be enough new reservists recruited to make up for the fall in regular soldiers. However, Mark Francois, a defence minister, insisted the cuts are necessary to help tackle a £38 billion hole in the defence budget left by Labour. "I cannot escape from pointing out... the reason we're having to do this is due ultimately to the size of the deficit that this Government inherited," Mr Francois told MPs. It emerged today that some soldiers now serving in Afghanistan are "likely" to be sacked within a year. As in previous tranches, anyone serving in Afghanistan, preparing to deploy there or recently returned, will be exempt from redundancy. However, some of today's Afghan troops who are protected in this round will probably be sacked in another batch of dismissals now being planned. The MoD said that another tranche of redundancies will come early in 2014. "To ensure any further redundancies are as fair as possible it is likely that they would include soldiers who were exempt from redundancy in Tranche Three due to operational exclusions," the MoD said. This work is ongoing. As the Daily Telegraph reported earlier, the next tranche of sackings will also include some medical personnel from the Royal Navy and RAF Commanding officers will now seek applications for voluntary redundancy, although officials admit that a significant number of departures in Tranche Three will be compulsory. General Sir Peter Wall, the Chief of the General Staff said that the redundancies would mean "unwelcome uncertainty and pressure" for personnel facing the threat of sacking. For some it may present an opportunity; for others it will curtail their Service prematurely. Our aim now is to apply the process as fairly as possible and to prepare to support those individuals who are selected as they and their families" transition to civilian life."