IMHO, this is a huge story. Not surprisingly, the MOD and indeed the Cabinet do not want this information on the streets in any way, shape or form. They will do just about everything to stop, spin, bury this kind of information.
To say they don't have any figures on increases in desertion is a blatant lie. Of course they know how many are missing and how that relates to previous years.
The Military top brass do little to help the situation when they hang servicemen and women out to dry to appease the Left. They further damage the Forces when they bow and scrape to the Politicians in pursuit of personal gain. Having said that I did meet a VERY senior Naval Officer who had thrown his toys out of the cot. He told us to watch the press over the next three months or so. His PSO was livid and told us to forget what we had heard.
Two months later his retirement 'on health grounds' was announced in the media.