Canadian retireds Re-Enlist now ....

Canadian Forces ask retired vets to re-enlist
Updated Fri. Aug. 24 2007 10:01 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Facing a shortage of experienced military personnel, the Canadian Forces has put out a call to retired veterans to sign up again -- not to battle, but to help train a new generation of soldiers.


While the military is exceeding its new recruit targets, the Afghanistan mission is draining the resources needed to get them into the system -- causing problems for the military's ambitious plans to boost its numbers.


Media reports say the Department of National Defence sent a letter in March to retired officers, asking if they would re-enlist because the Afghanistan mission has left Canadian Forces short of experienced trainers.


Lt.-Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the author of the letter, appealed to non-commissioned officers, captains and majors, to help fortify the Canadian forces for the future.


He wrote that the military isn't just looking to expand, but is "also facing greater demands for Canada to support more and more overseas missions while maintaining a healthy force within Canada to respond to domestic crises."


There are about 87,000 men and women who serve in the Canadian Forces as both regular force members and as reservists.


For the current recruiting year, which ends in the spring of 2008, the Canadian Forces hopes to add 6,425 new regular force members.


Defence Department officials tell CTV News they're already at about 36 per cent of that target. The department has exceeded its recruitment targets of about 6,200 new regular troops for each of the last two years.


But not only has the mission in Afghanistan left fewer leaders to train new recruits, it means there are fewer experienced soldiers to do long-range planning and make important equipment purchases -- vital tasks for the forces' future once the Afghanistan mission concludes.


"We've got a whole bunch of recruits that are keen coming into the military and they're needed," Maj.-Gen. (Ret'd) Lewis MacKenzie told CTV News. "But there are no instructors available to conduct their courses for them, so that's why it's critical to get instructors."


In the letter, Natynczyk wrote the forces are looking for trained professionals to "assist in a variety of ways in various locations and under a range of employment options."


MacKenzie said he believes many veterans will respond to the call to help solidify the future of the forces.


"So they're out there, and the country's at war, and they joined because they were patriots and therefore I wouldn't be surprised if this were attractive to them, and a fair number (of veterans) came back in for an extended period -- or even for a couple of years."


With a report from CTV's David Akin in Ottawa

[Wayne McGee]

FN C1 A1 tucked cassually under my arm, mess tins rattling from my 54 Pattern Web, yeah I can see it now! Glorious sight as I come hobbling into the classroom in a stinky cloud of cigarette smoke and a hint of Ben Gay.
Boy I'll sure teach them a thing or two;
"Front Rank Kneeling-Rear Rank Standing!",
"On The Whisle Blast: With Me Boys, Over The Top!"

Seriously though, this has been coming for a long time and the fact that the Forces has come to the conclusion that there is a short-fall of qualified NCO's is nothing short of criminal.
The writing has been on the wall for a generation now, offering the Sun and the Moon to the best and brightest from the Reserve Army has stripped them of their future NCO gene pool and to have those individuals arrive at the Meaford or Wainwright Battle Schools and be treated as second-class citizens because of their Militia roots.
It's not going to get better soon. This Train Wreck became un-avoidable in the mid-90's with that Boner called the"Forces Reduction Plan." From there the die was cast, rob Peter to pay Paul, take on every task placed on the table, stretch yourself to the breaking point , spend Millions to reduce your numbers with early retirement while asking fewer and fewer soldiers to take on even more tasks.......

Ooooh..... that almost qualified as a rant. I'll put the pin back in the grenade.... for now.

Cheers

[Jon Skagfeld]

The lack of instructors is a given. However, out-sourcing of trades training and Base Ops has freed many soldiers from garrison duties to be able to be deployable.

The remark about Militia (Reserve, please) soldiers being treated as second class is not an issue at, for example, Meaford.

I just finished 4 months as an Instructor/Examiner on Dvr Wh crses at Meaford. During this time I had the opportunity to observe and discuss the relationship between Reg/Res instructors and other staff.

What I determined was that there is really no difference! The Reg Force now fully understand how dependent they are on augmentation by PRes pers.

Examples: The TrgO is a Reservist, the Base DCO is a Reservist, two of the Trg Coy CSMs are Reservists, most Range Control staff are Reservists.

Last Friday, a grad pde of some 300 soldiers ended the 2007 Area Reserve Course trg period at Land Force Central Command Training Centre-Meaford. This number from just one of ??? trg bases in the system.

BTW, all of our Dvr Wh instrs were ex-military, working on an outsourcing contract.