Marine band replaced by CD on ghetto blaster as military musicians are sent to Afghanistan

But at ceremonial occasions the men in white helmets are having to be replaced with CDs played on ghetto blasters – more victims of the crippling manpower shortages in the armed forces.

For the first time an entire band – one of the remaining five in the UK – has had to be broken up because too many musicians have been sent to Afghanistan as medics or stretcher bearers.

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Those remaining at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon – the Royal Navy's equivalent of Sandhurst – are being spread around the other four Marine bands to fill gaps in their ranks.

Defence Ministry officials insist the drastic move is temporary and it is planned to reform the band a year from now.

But insiders fear the continuing intense strains on the armed forces will make that impossible, and the Dartmouth band will soon be consigned to the history books.

The tradition of Royal Marine bands dates back almost 250 years.

Beside the Dartmouth band, the others are based at Portsmouth, Plymouth, Rosyth and the Commando training centre at Lympstone, Devon.

Each has around 45 members who train for three years to play at least two instruments.

All five bands are in huge demand for public events across Britain and overseas, and are famed for their showstopping displays of precision marching.

But every musician has a secondary role as a military medic or stretcher bearer.

The armed forces are struggling to cope with huge shortages of medics, and 36 Royal Marine musicians are either in Afghanistan or about to deploy there – almost an entire band.

As a result, commanders have reluctantly ordered the Dartmouth band to be put officially on ice.

The MoD said the move was a "prudent measure to ensure that an effective Band Service across the Fleet continues". Officially, the suspended band is due to reform next April.

A senior source at the college said: "We are using a music system and it is pretty embarrassing, although we are simply hoping the number of ceremonial events will be kept down. Putting on a CD is nothing like the real sound of a Royal Marine band." Another insider told the Mail: "We're not holding our breath waiting for the band to return.

"Britain's commitment in Afghanistan is unlikely to be any smaller a year from now. If anything, it could be bigger.

"The pressure's not about to ease up. The fear is that the band will be suspended for a couple of years, then three, then four, and before you know it the bean counters are asking why we need it after all, as we've managed without for so long." The MoD insisted the main passing-out parades for classes of young Naval officers would be covered by other RM bands, and claimed the shelving of the Dartmouth band was "not part of any cost-saving measures". Tory defence spokesman Liam Fox said it was "another sign of overstretch and the inability of this Government to plan properly for the task at hand".