Some companies baulked at hiring ex-troops because they assumed they would be ‘aggressive, institutionalised, incapable of thinking for themselves, or unable to adapt to a civilian workplace’, the study found.

One Royal Welsh Regiment soldier told the inquiry that he was told by a prospective employer: ‘Unless you plan on shooting people in civvy street, you’re not a lot of use to us.’

And a warrant officer who commanded 40 men on a nuclear- powered submarine said: ‘All the questions in my interview were about how I would deal with conflict because they thought I was bound to blow a fuse.’

Lord Ashcroft said the Ministry of Defence and military top brass had to do more to change misconceptions of service leavers.