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He also repeated his claims - made with other former military top brass in a House of Lords debate yesterday - that budget cuts at the Ministry of Defence are risking soldiers' lives.
Lord Boyce, who was chief of the defence staff in 2003, told BBC Breakfast: "I feel that he (Mr Brown) has let the armed forces down by not appointing a secretary of state who is full-time.
"When you have got people who have been killed and maimed in the service of their Government, and you put at the head of the shop someone who is part-time, that sends a very bad message.
"And that is the message I get back from our soldiers, our sailors and our airmen. They feel insulted, they feel that he is treating them with contempt."
Speaking from the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Uganda, the Prime Minister said: "I have got nothing but praise for our armed forces. I have visited them in Iraq and Afghanistan and what they are doing are acts of great courage.
"I want to see the armed forces properly equipped. Every year of this government we have increased expenditure on defence."
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