Three out of four people applying to join the army never end up serving as many ... trends now
Three in four people hoping to join the army withdraw their application before serving thanks to being stuck on lengthy waiting lists.
And more than 100,000 since 2014 have waited six months for a response before giving up.
The alarming new data comes amid a recruitment crisis in the armed forces and adds to growing concerns that the number of personnel could drop below the target force of 73,000 within months.
Last year alone, almost 74,000 people who applied to join the army, RAF or navy withdrew, amounting to more than half of the potential recruits.
This was particularly stark in the army with seven in ten applicants giving up on the process altogether before getting accepted.
Three in four people hoping to join the army withdraw their application before serving thanks to being stuck on lengthy waiting lists. And more than 100,000 since 2014 have waited six months for a response before giving up (Stock Photo)
More than 8,400 of the 54,128 who pulled out of joining the army before even serving last year waited at least six months before they withdrew, The Times reports.
But the problem was seen across all three sectors of the armed forces with fewer than ten per cent of the 137,000 people who applied to join last year actually serving, according to the fresh figures uncovered by shadow defence secretary John Healey.
Some 1.1 million young people have applied to join the armed forces in the last ten years but more than 800,000 have withdrawn.
This has resulted in the Ministry of Defence recruiting around 132,000 people and turning down some 170,000 hopefuls.
Britain, along with countries such as the US, France, Germany and Australia, is struggling to maintain healthy numbers in the armed
