Later-upping

The CF want their people back:

Forces want to hire a few good retirees
Defence chief promises to fast-track re-enrolment in drive to pump up dwindling military ranks

The Canadian military wants to lure recent retirees back into uniform to stop the retreat from its ranks.

Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the chief of defence staff, said yesterday soldiers, airmen and sailors who have taken early leave from the Forces will be allowed to have their old jobs back if they're having second thoughts about their new careers.

The new policy aims to get members who have been out of the Forces for five years or less re-enrolled within 30 days, expediting a process that usually takes between six months and one year.

"Industry is hiring my early retirees because of the great leaders that they are. What I have to say to them is that if their new careers don't work out for them, I would be pleased to welcome them back into the force as long as they remain fit," Natynczyk said in a speech to an Ottawa defence conference [Feb. 27 here].

"If they want back in within five years, we'll expedite their re-enrolment. I want them back in serving within 30 days."

The move is an attempt to stop the high rate of departure from the military at a time when the Conservative government wants to boost overall numbers. Attrition from early retirement or for other reasons jumped to 9 per cent from 6.5 per cent last year, the Department of National Defence announced last month. Overall personnel growth in the military last year was just 628.

Natynczyk later told reporters his pitch to recent retirees is the expansion of an offer the air force has been making for several years to pilots and technicians who leave the force to work for private airlines and then consider coming back when the industry falls on hard times [more on the Air Force efforts here].

"The air force has been doing this on an active basis because every one of those pilots represents millions of dollars in terms of experience and skill sets and so on, so we want to get them back," Natynczyk said. "The current effort is to expand that across the board."

He added in his speech that the Canadian Forces must also do a better job of making the military life easier for families, citing the grievances of spouses and children concerning health care, education and employment as among the top reasons for personnel opting for early retirement.

"We've got to make sure that we address our family issues because it's also part of retention," he said. "I am dedicated to addressing these shortcomings with all of the leadership of the (Canadian Forces)."

The real numbers/experience problem stems from minimal recruiting in the early-mid 90s. So when people who enlisted 20 years ago (1989) retire, there are very few people who joined after them to take their places. There's about a five/six year hole, as it were, in personnel numbers, affecting in particular senior non-commissioned members (sergeants and warrants are most especially the heart of the Army).