CF Recruiting Misinformation

Articles such as this one in today's Toronto Star regarding recent recruiting performance of the CF are mostly correct until you get down to a critical detail:

The annual exodus from the ranks of the Canadian Forces, which has been increasing since 2003, is becoming a yearly embarrassment for the Conservative government, which came to power in 2006 promising to boost the number of regular forces by 13,000 within five years.

This article and many others on the same topic like to leave readers with the impression that the CF and ultimately the government are failing in recruitment, often due to some vague reference to the Afghanistan conflict or some other similarly unspoken grievance of CF members. Left unreported is the critical fact that from 1980 to 1983 the military saw it's last big recruiting drive prior to a later slowdown and finally force reductions. CF strength in those days was in the range of 85,000 people. That leaves a significant portion of today's military in the 25+ group for years of service and prime candidates for retirement.

Morale, motivation and interest in the CF is probably at the highest point that has been seen in many years, but we still have that "decade of darkness" to deal with which results in costs not often readily apparent. The recruiting gap, force reductions and much ballyhooed "peace dividend" accomplished by years of starving the CF of funds must now be dealt with. Thankfully they now have the appropriate funding and resources to accomplish their task.