Sir Jock said the armed forces were under-manned by about 5,000, although he said this shortage was less than it was 10 years ago.
Yep, before Iaq/Afghanistan/Sierra Leonne/Kosovo/Fresco.
Coping with NI and Bosnia whilst undermanned was a little different to coping with 2 very bloody medium scale operations with a workforce that have been pretty constantly deployed for 10 years.