- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
(interestingly enough, the Toronto Police Service has been in the headlines lately - they've been losing scores of officers who want to get out of Toronto ... many of these officers at the "middle" rank/age, who are more difficult to replace with new recruits/rookies (... unless somebody in the TPS realises that hiring military personnel provides them with "semi-skilled" staff ...)
Monday, July 22, 2002
The Halifax Herald Limited
Poor gear, thin ranks hitting military with both barrels
By Scott Taylor ON TARGET
FIRST IT WAS Soldier of Fortune magazine recognizing the skill of our snipers in Afghanistan. Now, the Canadian Forces find themselves featured by the internationally renowned Jane's Defence Weekly in an article that forecasts a rather gloomy short-term future.
With most of the Forces' aging weapon systems and infrastructure in need of replacement, the Defence Department recently tabled a strategy paper that put a priority on new equipment. But Jane's reports that the projected five-year goal of spending 23 per cent of the defence budget on modernizing the inventory will not be met. In fact, the amount allocated for re-equipping will actually drop from 17.5 per cent this year to just 15.4 per cent in the next.
The reason DND cannot meet its own objective is two-fold. First, despite the Chretien government's proclaimed commitment to the war against terror, no real money has been added to the defence budget. (While I'm not a mathematician, an increase of two per cent to an organization running a six per cent annual deficit is hardly a net increase.) With no outside fiscal relief, the policy planners have had to try to find the necessary funds within existing budgets.
But there is an even more pressing concern - the rapid thinning of the ranks.
Maj.-Gen. Doug Dempster told Jane's that the delaying of equipment purchases is to allow the Canadian Forces to direct more funding to the recruiting and retention of personnel. This logic seems sound enough: Why bother buying new weapons if there is no one left to use them? But how do you attract new recruits and hang on to trained professionals when you outfit them with outdated junk?
Even as the Canadian Forces begin to redirect their meagre resources to solving this manpower crisis, a new threat has emerged, one that has already exacerbated the problem and is threatening to drain the best of the remaining personnel pool.
Since 9/11, police forces across Canada have been boosting their own terrorist-response capabilities. What they have discovered is that former combat soldiers are readily retrained to be excellent police officers, particularly for tactical teams.
In the past, one of the retention factors DND personnel directors counted on was that combat skills were difficult to convert into second careers. The huge re-signing bonuses paid to military pilots, for instance, were considered unnecessary to keep someone whose resume included things like marksmanship and unarmed combat.
For a lot of young soldiers, the idea of heading out onto Civvy Street meant extensive and retraining before starting out in a new occupation. For those with families, such a period of reduced income could only be contemplated with the benefit of a military pension. Since you have to serve at least 20 years to qualify for one, DND had its powerful "retention carrot."
Not anymore.
With their wealth of experience in the world's hot spots, Canada's veteran peacekeepers are now a sought-after commodity in the security job market.
Better job benefits with the added incentive of not having to repeatedly undergo six-month separations from family while serving on UN peacekeeping tours make for an attractive alternative to the military. In the headhunting ads police forces are using to lure service personnel, they point out "the camaraderie continues." Soldiers-turned-cops proclaim the transition is "like simply exchanging one family for another."
The police recruiting campaigns have been very successful so far. Having just graduated a number of top ex-soldier candidates, the Edmonton Police Service is looking to hire as many as 100 new recruits next year. In all likelihood, Forces members based at CFB Edmonton will fill most of these spots.
In Ottawa, the police have been eager to sign up veterans of the army's counterterrorist commando unit, Joint Task Force 2. Although this elite unit is considered to be the cream of the crop, there is no shortage of volunteers eager to turn in their camouflage for a police badge.
A senior defence official recently told Esprit de Corps magazine that Joint Task Force 2 is facing an imminent, serious manning crisis. With their strenuous entry-level standards and heavy operational taskload (Afghanistan, Bosnia and security at the G-8 summit), it has been difficult for the task force to process new candidates. A sudden exodus to the Ottawa Police Force has only made matters worse.
Monday, July 22, 2002
The Halifax Herald Limited
Poor gear, thin ranks hitting military with both barrels
By Scott Taylor ON TARGET
FIRST IT WAS Soldier of Fortune magazine recognizing the skill of our snipers in Afghanistan. Now, the Canadian Forces find themselves featured by the internationally renowned Jane's Defence Weekly in an article that forecasts a rather gloomy short-term future.
With most of the Forces' aging weapon systems and infrastructure in need of replacement, the Defence Department recently tabled a strategy paper that put a priority on new equipment. But Jane's reports that the projected five-year goal of spending 23 per cent of the defence budget on modernizing the inventory will not be met. In fact, the amount allocated for re-equipping will actually drop from 17.5 per cent this year to just 15.4 per cent in the next.
The reason DND cannot meet its own objective is two-fold. First, despite the Chretien government's proclaimed commitment to the war against terror, no real money has been added to the defence budget. (While I'm not a mathematician, an increase of two per cent to an organization running a six per cent annual deficit is hardly a net increase.) With no outside fiscal relief, the policy planners have had to try to find the necessary funds within existing budgets.
But there is an even more pressing concern - the rapid thinning of the ranks.
Maj.-Gen. Doug Dempster told Jane's that the delaying of equipment purchases is to allow the Canadian Forces to direct more funding to the recruiting and retention of personnel. This logic seems sound enough: Why bother buying new weapons if there is no one left to use them? But how do you attract new recruits and hang on to trained professionals when you outfit them with outdated junk?
Even as the Canadian Forces begin to redirect their meagre resources to solving this manpower crisis, a new threat has emerged, one that has already exacerbated the problem and is threatening to drain the best of the remaining personnel pool.
Since 9/11, police forces across Canada have been boosting their own terrorist-response capabilities. What they have discovered is that former combat soldiers are readily retrained to be excellent police officers, particularly for tactical teams.
In the past, one of the retention factors DND personnel directors counted on was that combat skills were difficult to convert into second careers. The huge re-signing bonuses paid to military pilots, for instance, were considered unnecessary to keep someone whose resume included things like marksmanship and unarmed combat.
For a lot of young soldiers, the idea of heading out onto Civvy Street meant extensive and retraining before starting out in a new occupation. For those with families, such a period of reduced income could only be contemplated with the benefit of a military pension. Since you have to serve at least 20 years to qualify for one, DND had its powerful "retention carrot."
Not anymore.
With their wealth of experience in the world's hot spots, Canada's veteran peacekeepers are now a sought-after commodity in the security job market.
Better job benefits with the added incentive of not having to repeatedly undergo six-month separations from family while serving on UN peacekeeping tours make for an attractive alternative to the military. In the headhunting ads police forces are using to lure service personnel, they point out "the camaraderie continues." Soldiers-turned-cops proclaim the transition is "like simply exchanging one family for another."
The police recruiting campaigns have been very successful so far. Having just graduated a number of top ex-soldier candidates, the Edmonton Police Service is looking to hire as many as 100 new recruits next year. In all likelihood, Forces members based at CFB Edmonton will fill most of these spots.
In Ottawa, the police have been eager to sign up veterans of the army's counterterrorist commando unit, Joint Task Force 2. Although this elite unit is considered to be the cream of the crop, there is no shortage of volunteers eager to turn in their camouflage for a police badge.
A senior defence official recently told Esprit de Corps magazine that Joint Task Force 2 is facing an imminent, serious manning crisis. With their strenuous entry-level standards and heavy operational taskload (Afghanistan, Bosnia and security at the G-8 summit), it has been difficult for the task force to process new candidates. A sudden exodus to the Ottawa Police Force has only made matters worse.
