General Sir Nick Carter has said some veterans might find Remembrance Sunday a lonely experience this year due to the coronavirus restrictions in place.
The Chief of the Defence Staff told the BBC One's Andrew Marr Show the guidelines would be "particularly tough on our veterans".
"They traditionally have had the opportunity to get together and talk about their memories and their reflections, but equally to strut their stuff," he said.
"It is a proud moment for so many people, so to do it in a sort of rather lonely way, perhaps on your doorstep for a couple of minutes, is going to be tough for a lot of people."
Asked whether people should go to their local memorial, Sir Nick replied: "My advice is, I guess, to follow the Government guidance, which is to stay at home sadly but to be on your front doorstep."
General Sir Nick Carter said the armed forces understood the decision for a one-year Spending Review but admitted it was a "challenge".
"I think the challenge for us is the threat is evolving the whole time, the threat is modernising in certain quarters and we need to modernise as well, so for us it is a challenge," he told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show.
Sir Nick said no decisions had been made when asked whether he expected a smaller army to be the recommendation of the integrated military review, but said he expected more robots to be on the battlefield in future.
"If I projected forward another 10 years, I think we should be in no doubt that warfare will look different, there will be robots on our battlefield in future - there already are today," he added.
"Of course, that might change the manpower mix. I also think that reserves are very important as Covid has demonstrated, so I suspect it will be a very different mix of human beings and, for that matter, machines than it is today."
He said he expected tanks would still be needed over the next 10 years amid rumours they are to be scrapped.
About 350 pre-booked members of the public are expected at a Remembrance Sunday service at the outdoor National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
This year's act of Remembrance and wreath-laying has been scaled down due to the coronavirus pandemic and will be led by honorary chaplain Reverend Vic Van Den Bergh.
There are more than 350 individual memorials at the arboretum including the centrepiece Armed Forces Memorial, dedicated to the thousands who have fallen while on active service since the end of the Second World War.
Whitehall has begun to fill with detachments from the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Army and the Royal Air Force who have marched from nearby Wellington Barracks and are forming up around the Cenotaph.
The Massed Bands of the Guards Division and the Pipes and Drums are playing a selection of music.
Covid-19 restrictions have meant the number of veterans and military attending the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph have been greatly reduced while the public are not allowed to attend.
Colonel Jack Stenhouse, 72, served in The Gordon Highlanders in Northern Ireland, and other postings from 1969 until 1994.
He said it was important the tradition of remembrance continued despite the pandemic.
Col Stenhouse, of Staffordshire, added that his thoughts during the silence at the National Memorial Arboretum would be "with the regiment and all those who served with it".
He said: "Some of whom became very close friends, inevitably because of the nature of the service one is engaged in.
"I shall be thinking of those - not all of those who lost their lives, but fortunately are still with us. All who gave much for their country."
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