Recruiting

[Quimby]

I see the main problem with recruiting for the CF as not being a problem with the unit recruiters or the displays we put on. The problem is when it gets beyond the unit level and the files go to CFRC. It doesn't matter how many troops you get on the armoury floor, when it takes months and months for a potential recruit to get a phone call telling him his situation we are going to get alot of people who give up and look for something else. When I was recruited a few years ago it took from February, when I first showed up and talked to the unit recruiter, until October when I was finally sworn in. If anyone can explain to me why it would take a guy with no medical problems, no criminal record and is able to easily pass the written and fitness tests more than 8 weeks to be sworn in I would love to hear the reason. The only things I can think of would be incompetence, lack of funding for the recruiting process or just not having a clue.
My experience with British recruiting has been much better. After a few months of mailing back and forth I phoned up their main office in London and in 15 minutes had my medical, written tests, interview and PRC all scheduled for a one week period. It would have been even faster had I decided to move to the UK first. It just doesn't seem reasonable that the Brits can be so switched on in regards to recruiting and we are so switched off.

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An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

[towhey]

Good thread, Quimby.

I wonder if part of the time delay problem is a cultural one. For many years, the CF (regular force) enjoyed the ability to cherry pick the best recruits from a long list of applicants. Perhaps this led to a culture where a long processing time simply served as another "weeding out" element to arbitrarily cut out those who weren't completely "dedicated" to the cause -- a Starship Troopers kind of approach where getting in is very hard, getting out is very easy.

I suspect the US and UK armies, which have always been bigger and always needed more grist for the mill, and therefore have not always been as "selective" as the CF may have developed a more streamlined processing system -- under the "ship 'em out while they're still keen" approach.

If this theory holds, it would explain why the CF Reserves, who have never really enjoyed a surplus of potential recruits, also suffers from the same systemic approach: the recruit processing has now for years been delivered by regular force recruiting centres. What's good for the goose, right?

Now, however, both regular force and reserve force cannot attract enough recruits to fill their units to mandated strengths. The "go slow and weed them out" approach to recruiting may no longer apply.

Perhaps, it's time to review (as you suggest) the whole recruitment process to ensure that it meets the current needs of the regulars and the reserves -- rather than just plodding along under the old assumptions.

Something will have to be done -- as I understand it, the CF Army Reserve will have to recruit 7250 new recruits in 2001 alone just to achieve their mandated strength by year end.

See the Indiv Training thread on the LFRR board for more numbers and ideas.

[garett]

The real problem with recruiting is that Canadians don't want to join the military. Theres no reason to, the job market is too good. We all know the history of conscription in Canada, even that doesn't work. Canadians are a bunch of peace loving hippies and thats not such a bad thing but it does hinder our military's recruiting effort. If we want to recruit more people there has to be a massive PR campaign to change perceptions. The rusty gears of CFRETS also have to be oiled. What a shitty situation its in now. I think one of the problems with the reserve recruiting system is that from the beginning of May until the beginning of September units are basically shut down for the summer. Since soldiers are sworn in at the unit and issued kit at the unit that can be hard to accomplish during the dead months. While the brass are "restructuring" the reserves they should also "restructure" the recruiting process. Still I think the larger problem is the public perception of the military. Its not seen as a good job by most Canadians unless you're from Cape Breton of Newfoundland.

[Enfield]

I agree with garrett, we aren't going to increase our recruiting with the present state of Canadian military knowledge/mindset, no matter how many displays and 30-second ads we do.

The CF needs a massive PR campaign. CBC just did a major specal on prisons, why not the CF as well? We need Battlestripes, or a special on what the troops are doing overseas, or maybe Macleans could be convinced to publish something positive about the military.
We need this not just for recruiting (though in the long term a PR blitrz would help enourmously) but to increase the general knowledge the public.

[Disturbance]

I do remember seeing a marathon of one hour shows a couple years back. It was a fictional show about peacekeepers somewhere over there....it was alright. I forget what channel and what the show was called. It wasnt too old though.

[garett]

There was a CBC movie called peacekeepers that came out a few years ago. Wasn't really good PR, one guy killed him self and another guy got killed by a mine.
Thats another thing, Canadians view Canadian soldiers as being UN troops, just a bunch of international police officers. They don't actually know that we have some of the best soldiers in the world.
Thats something that LtCol Deane and Capt Price (both RCR, ex-Airborne) tried to stress to my "Canada and the Experience of War" class here at UNB when they did a presentation on peacekeeping. The US is very good at hyping up their military. They're got numbers and technology but their turn over rates are so high they have no experience. Everyone I know in the military who watched "War Games" had a good laugh at those paratroopers from the 82nd. A show like that, thats actually done properly not like a fucking video game, would go far. Maybe show 3 RCR Jump Coy (Julliet?) no an exercise.
On another note there is no ARCON here in LFAA which is shitty because its the one time a year that we actually get to hit the bush for any extended period of time. I don't think thats going to do any good in retention because our exercises in my unit during the training year are pretty weak.
One thing that has been discussed is something along the lines of what our Coy 2 I/C did when he was with the PLF. They did a Recce/OP EX around the Halifax harbor where they had to record activity. They used C-8s that they signed out from the Navy or something. Here in Fredericton our armouries is right on the St. John river. If we could get boat support we could insert on one of the many islands just a click up river and do patrol Ex followed by a raid on an enemy OP location or whatever. We gotta do some kind of kick ass EX or we should just turn in our webbing. The prospect of being a platoon commander in the near future is becoming more and more appealing. I think my unit needs some youthful exuberant officers.

[Disturbance]

that is the movie I was refering to

[MADMIK]

From what I read from the New York Times articles about Canada, the PM is a left-wing. Left-wing are anti-military. The influence of hockey teams is going down the drain. US cities are picking up the slack. The point is, if you're pro-military, there is a risk to being shout down up in Canada.

[garett]

What are you talking aboot?

[Bigbear]

I think the time lag hurts recruiting efforts. I applied in september, in december I wrote my tests, did the interview and stuff. I was told I did well and should be "highly competitive", I will not hear word one way or the other until early june. My life has been on hold for half a year. I turned down better jobs than I have now because I can't promise to stay for any amount of time. It seems that a fasted process would be helpful. Even if I didn't start training any sooner I would at least be able to plann ahead.

[Bigbear]

I just checked my post. Sorry about the spelling mistakes, I can spell, really I can. Is there a way to edit your own posts?

[enderr]

The problem with recruiting isn't very simple I mean given the factor that it is peacetime, there are only so many young men and women who are actually interested in the militia. It's also a big time commitment to actually get in. I presume it's not easy for someone with a full time job to get the time off to do recruit training. I think retention is a more important issue. Unfortunately if your unit is too good you'll loose keen troops to the regs, or the brits.

[King]

While not on the topic of recruiting, I'd have to say that maybe all this hardship and bullshit that Canadian soldiers put up with does have a bit of a bright side. I think you Jr. Ranks out there in the reserves are more informed and aware then your American counterparts. You see what training others are doing and envy them because of a lack of it here in Canada. While I'm not ready to say that all the training and exercises other get make them better trained soldiers, I will say that those of you out there who submit plans for unit exchanges or exercises to your higher ups and take the time to research and do them properly are most likely more aware of the logistics (and BS) behind such endeveours.

[Enfield]

I spent the week in the Recruiting Cell at my unit, talking to high schools arranging times to go recruit and going to various schools and colleges.
To produce one qualified soldier at the end of the summer there is an enourmous amount of work that goes in - I've even heard that you need 10 people to submit paperwork to CFRC to produce 1 trained soldier.
The public view of us is startling. Calling high schools, I actually had a few schools say no, they don't want us to come in. I have to wonder how they celebrate Rememberance Day? All career counsellors we talk to are surprised by us when we show up - apparently they didn't expect a few clean-cut, polite, well behaved young men who were friendly and put forward a good presentation. People either see us as pansy-peackeepers or bloodthirsty warmongers.
For all of our debate about women in the military/combat arms (a moot point now, I guess) in my experience more women come up and talk to us than guys, and they often were more serious and intelligent. Personally, I'm rethinking my stance on women in combat after talking to many girls/women.
Some of our recruiting/PR material is embarassing. There's a folder out with a collage-type graphic on it showing many different images with the banner "Community Integrity Respect Fairness" - and not a single image depicts a weapon of ANY form (ok, they show a CF18 but you can't see it's cannon or missiles) But, the medics, SAR Techs, and minorities feature very prominently. Apparently we no longer hurt people - even a photo of the Van Doos had no weapons.
Another brochure is meant to attract women into the military - and again, there is a disturbing lack of weapons. One of the publicity photos from Brigade is of a female soldier who is wearing more makeup than cam, completley unprofessional. But...We're beginning to use some very slick-looking photos and displays, whch is good (despite the fact all the 39 Brigade pics are of C Scots *grin*).

Enfield

[Cole]

Has anyone been to www.dnd.ca (http://www.dnd.ca) lately and taken a look at the recruiting section.
They put a bunch of profiles and videos up. The videos are pretty good, check the infantry one out. It shows a lot of different weapons and battlefield attacks. Nothing fancy or PC to attract any specific group.

[Cree Warrior]

One quick point;
If you were a scout or recruiter for a professional sports team and 95% of you players came from one community or area, would you spend the majority of you time recruiting in other areas? I think you'd be best to centre your resources in that community, not ignore it completely.

Sua Sponte

[Disturbance]

Just checked out the updated recruiting section and I think they have come a long ways. But still have further to go.