The Canadian military insists it’s getting a handle on its recruiting crisis, but a new leaked internal report obtained by CBC News suggests many of those who come through the door quickly leave in frustration over the inability to get trained and into the job they want.
In addition, the effort to retain experienced soldiers, sailors and aircrew was dealt an important blow recently when a Department of National Defence office — set up to find ways to keep people — was defunded.
The struggle to recruit new members to both the regular and the reserve force has been a major preoccupation as the Forces face a shortage of up to 14,000 qualified personnel.
But the flip side of the equation — that has gotten less attention — is the effort to hold on to people, especially in critical technical trades.
I’m not sure you’ve thought this through.
If we decide to not plan for war and Trump chooses to invade, there will be a war whether we like it or not. And to be clear we won’t like it at all.
I agree that preparing our military doesn’t have to lead us down the same road the US has chosen (almost endless wars). But we should be recruiting and training people for our military forces in case they are needed – whether it’s for peacekeeping or self-preservation.