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Simon Bowers says one of his employees "spends a lot of weekends sleeping in the back of trucks"
Army reservists are to get military pensions and healthcare benefits as part of a bid to increase numbers, the defence secretary has announced.
Philip Hammond said they would also get increased remuneration in a move to drive up reserve numbers from around 20,000 to 30,000 by 2018.
The government will spend £1.8bn over 10 years to transform the reserves, and as part of a wider shake-up.
Critics have said it is an attempt to create "an army on the cheap".
The white paper proposals come nearly three years after the coalition said it would be reducing regular army numbers from 102,000 to 80,000.
Mr Hammond told the Commons that the changes were "key" to ensuring Britain has the military capability it needs in the coming years.
The MoD and the Army have both invested much time and energy working out how to make the best of a difficult financial situation.
The plans are ambitious and will require a change, not just in the structure of the Army, but also in the UK's attitudes to its reservists - not least the attitude of local communities and employers, whose support in this will be vital.
The government will offer financial incentives to smaller businesses, to encourage them to allow staff to join up. But the recession means that some may remain reluctant to employ staff who will need to spend more time in training and could be mobilised for at least one year in every five.
The changes could be seen as an opportunity to modernize and renew the Army for the 21st Century or as a recipe for uncertainty and demoralisation for regulars.
The proposals will also aim to offer employers greater predictability over the call-out of reservists and set out the level of financial incentives for small firms that employ them.
And reserve units will be paired with regular units from 2015, with more joint training.
A Ministry of Defence source described the plans as "a radical overhaul".
'See danger'In April, Tory MP Col Bob Stewart said the government was "trying to get as inexpensive an army as possible... an army on the cheap".
And speaking shortly before Mr Hammond's statement, he said the commitment businesses have to make to reservists could make it unworkable for small firms.
He said: "If you're a large organisation like British Aerospace or the Ministry of Defence itself or the civil service, it it might not be as big a problem but it's a much bigger problem when you go down in scale, so you go to a company of say 10, 15 people...
"It's my job as a member of parliament to even criticise sometimes my own government when I think there's a danger. I do see a danger."
The latest plans come as a result of the almost 8% cut to the MoD budget announced in 2010.
The MoD aims to reach its target of 82,000 regular soldiers by 2017, while the number of reservists is to increase from 15,000, in 2010, to 30,000 in 2018.
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