The Canadian Armed Forces have alerted that there is a great shortage of recruits to occupy thousands of vacant positions. The shortfall is so bad to the extent that senior officers have labelled it a crisis.
Recently, Robert Romero came out of the Canadian Armed Forces’ recruiting office in Ottawa carrying an envelope full of papers.
Though he is from the Philippines, Romero has no direct experience with the military of Canada as his interest is largely gotten from a sense of adventure and some of what he watched about soldiers in films as a kid.
He said: “I idolized them. I got hooked. So then I started researching about it and I got more into it.”
Romero just wrote an aptitude test with 10 others to identify which military occupations prospective recruits are best suited to fill. He removes his results from the envelope: intelligence officer, meteorological technician and cook.
As expected, he will discuss and decide which career interests him, whether he wants to write the test again or opt out of the whole exercise with his parents.
Canada’s military should be in a growth period as recent demands increase the need for sailors, soldiers and aviators that are trained. In 2017, the Liberal government laid out a plan to recruit thousands into full and part-time positions.
While the plan materialized after many years of shortages of troops, there were signals that the military was turning a corner as recruitment started outpacing departures.
Brig.-Gen. Krista Brodie, who oversees military recruitment and training said: “We were just starting to gain momentum when the pandemic hit.”
Recruitment encountered problems during the first year of COVID-19 as recruiting and training centres were shuttered by the military. That resulted in the enrolment of only 2,000 people in 2020-21 which was less than half of the needed personnel.
Around 4,800 recruits were enrolled in 2021 as lockdowns and restrictions were relaxed.
Brodie however revealed that the military is getting around half the number of applicants it needs every month to realize the aim of adding 5,900 members this year.
He said: “We are without a doubt in an applicant crisis right now.”
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