Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

[ytz]

Hey! I was a 16-year old and they pretty quickly gave me a 21/2 to truck to drive and to fire a big gun. What more could a kid bored with high school want. It worked - I did 44 years all told.

Sure, but you weren't driving 2.5t trucks and firing big guns before you put on a uniform. You walked in and signed up so you could do those things. Kirkhill's suggestion is that the CAF broadly subsidize a bunch of hobbies and hope that some of these folks will sign up. I question the return on such a plan. Like I said earlier, I see it as being a racket that will largely subsidize hobbies and not actually attract the recruits we want.

Also, for the most part these days, we're actually doing a better job than years past in getting people like that in the door. Go on any recruiting thread and you'll see a bunch of operator and combat arms trades closed cause they are full. The issues are usually getting them trained and then actually employing them successfully. We're talking about giving people a monthly range day when a good chunk of the CAF is struggling to get an annual range day.

The question of the MobF is different. It's someone who doesn't want to be PRes or RegF. It's basically asking someone to sign up for and stay on a standby/emergency list. The requirements for that, by design, should be different.

 

[lenaitch]

I'm guessing that you've never been a reservist.

There are a multitude of people who don't have money for snowmobiles or kayaks or tenting gear or guns and unlimited ammo but who enjoy doing that once in a while and getting paid for it to boot.

You just need to find your target audience, attract them with the right adds and then fulfill their adventurous spirit with meaningful activities. Hey! I was a 16-year old and they pretty quickly gave me a 21/2 to truck to drive and to fire a big gun. What more could a kid bored with high school want. It worked - I did 44 years all told.

Fair, but the point I was questioning is the assertion about people who have those 'skills', and assuming the money to enjoy them, wanting to also do them on behalf of the CAF. Clearly, they do exist. I am told the US Air National Guard is full of commercial pilots, and when I took a ride in a vintage aircraft, my pilot was an airline pilot on his days off. I just not sure the same desire exists for all the 'soft skills' mentioned, or in sufficient numbers.

 

[ytz]

Fair, but the point I was questioning is the assertion about people who have those 'skills', and assuming the money to enjoy them, wanting to also do them on behalf of the CAF. Clearly, they do exist. I am told the US Air National Guard is full of commercial pilots, and when I took a ride in a vintage aircraft, my pilot was an airline pilot on his days off. I just not sure the same desire exists for all the 'soft skills' mentioned, or in sufficient numbers.

It's also not as easy to manage as people imagine. This forum is obviously army centric so they focus on just getting people to a range. But we need a lot more skills than just people who can shoot. And those can be difficult to integrate. For example, there's huge issues with reserve pilots because total flight time restrictions mean they have to split available hours between their day job and reserve service. Or we can various security and liability conflicts with cyber operators with what they learn transferring to their day jobs. Etc.