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The Times - TA struggling to recruit: interview with Major-General Ranald Munro

18 odd years ago I just waked into my local TA unit and said "Can I join" I knew they existed, I knew what the TA did, I knew they got paid, not from watching some poxy TV ad but from friends who had been in the TA. If I was joining now, I'd be put off by the never ending crap and makework just to get in. As for traveling to Scotland for a medical, I'm joining the TA, not the regulars. Which incidentally used to do the medical in the same town as the Army Careers Office that I went into to join

So you never needed some "Poxy TV Advert" because you knew someone who was already in.

18 odd years ago I was a recruiter for the TA and the most effective way of getting people to join was through Unit members bringing along a buddy- But that did not always constitute any better or more committed quality of recruit than any other method.

18 odd years ago we did not do RG8 Forms- we sent you to a GP selected by the Unit(From an approved list) who was paid a fee to conduct Medicals locally- It worked well- but the system knew nothing of your Medical background and the GP we used had no access to your previous medical history.
IF you lied on the Medical Forms (as many did)we had no way of knowing you had been sectioned in the past or were unsuitable for any other underlying Medical condition.

I do not think travelling to Glencorse for the ADSC process-particulalry midweek is very helpful- neither for the Unit nor the candidate.
I do not think candidates for the TA should attend midweek selection except as the the exception to the rule (due to primary employment work patterns for instance).
I do think TA selection and initial training should be conducted as locally as possible (particularly as the TA is still supposed to be a local organisation)

But as bad as the ADSC process is it is one rule for all and at least sets a base to work from- I know from experience my unit has in the past allowed individuals (who for various reasons it should not) to join. ADSC takes an element of this away.
 
I still think a citizen reserve thing could work if given the chance. take the kids at school into cadets then onto basic training and every year a two week mandatory top up for 20 years.

mid level you have those who enjoy it and become a operational reserve like TA are supposed to be - instant army just add beer. set it at say 200k split between home service and deployable volunteers the hardest part will be getting society used to the idea again. as anyone wanting to to shoot stuff buys a playstation/xbox now instead. home service troops may be called on to assist in domestic issues like floods and riots so medics engineers police type units which are usefull if we end up 'nation building' again. the volunteers will be the high tempo kinetic trained types we should have allways had rather than having the TA as an after thought to strip down when no one was looking. the post cold war decimation of good units left a bitter aftertaste for a lot of people who maybe now have sons who would have followed dad into the reserves but are persuaded to go elsewhere for their hobbies.

give them a decent tax break as well as a bounty.

Good plan in theory, however as we all know, no plan survives contact with the enemy. IE the illiberal guardianistas who run every facet of our society.
I can imagine how some of the so-called Community Leaders in various towns and cities would respond to such an idea.
The simple truth is that most people couldn't give a fcuk for their next door neighbour, never mind doing anything for their community, or shock-horror Country.


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We struggle to recruit people into the TA for purely demographic reasons.

Britain is mainly inhabited by gopping shit-cnuts. The thought of putting up with half of what a soldier puts up with has the majority of our junior bed wetters waddling away at full speed.

As for discipline then forget it.

Those that have got what it takes are put off by the fact that the offer does not match the reward. In fact, I don't think the MoD has even dreamt about asking how they could improve the offer to that dwindling species that is the decent youth of Britain.

That's what I think.
 
We struggle to recruit people into the TA for purely demographic reasons.

Britain is mainly inhabited by gopping shit-cnuts. The thought of putting up with half of what a soldier puts up with has the majority of our junior bed wetters waddling away at full speed.

As for discipline then forget it.

Those that have got what it takes are put off by the fact that the offer does not match the reward. In fact, I don't think the MoD has even dreamt about asking how they could improve the offer to that dwindling species that is the decent youth of Britain.

That's what I think.

but they've done some TV ads! what else is there!?
 
A century ago with a smaller population we had a quarter million in the TA. Getting up to 30k really shouldn't be a stretch. The people are out there, young men (and women these days) still want a challenge, to do something out of the civilian ordinary.

What we don't have is an effectively articulated offer. What we don't have is the local outside work hours contacts. What we do have is a joining process that sucks balls at every stage, run by idiots who respond to every criticism by muttering "kids today, what can you do eh ?"

What we need is an organisation that stresses leadership not process, one that can adapt quickly and concentrates on Getting Shit Done. So not today's British Army then.
 
We struggle to recruit people into the TA for purely demographic reasons.

Britain is mainly inhabited by gopping shit-cnuts. The thought of putting up with half of what a soldier puts up with has the majority of our junior bed wetters waddling away at full speed.

As for discipline then forget it.

Those that have got what it takes are put off by the fact that the offer does not match the reward. In fact, I don't think the MoD has even dreamt about asking how they could improve the offer to that dwindling species that is the decent youth of Britain.

That's what I think.

I generally agree, Mr_S. There is a dangerously delusional line of thinking still hanging around Army HQ that there is some mysterious demographic out there who are just waiting for the Regular Army to announce tough new Reserve TACOS featuring some new but decidedly manky and ill-thought out carrots, enforced by lots of loverly 'stick' that makes the planners go firm in their trousers.

The problem is this: if this cohort of part-time Klingons exists (which, as you rightly point out probably doesn't), why aren't they already in the TA filling their boots with medals?
 
The simple truth is that most people couldn't give a fcuk for their next door neighbour, never mind doing anything for their community, or shock-horror Country.

People could give a **** for neighbours, community & country.

People don't give a **** for politician's egos.

Someone coming of age today has never seen the armed forces do anything other than meddle, ineffectually, in the affairs of other nations at the whim of politicians trying to carve a niche for themselves.
If that does not change, then the recruitment demographic will be those who cannot find employment elsewhere and the borderline psychopath.
 
People could give a **** for neighbours, community & country.

People don't give a **** for politician's egos.

Someone coming of age today has never seen the armed forces do anything other than meddle, ineffectually, in the affairs of other nations at the whim of politicians trying to carve a niche for themselves.
If that does not change, then the recruitment demographic will be those who cannot find employment elsewhere and the borderline psychopath.

Sorry Biscuits but where I live mate, people just don't care about anything to do with the community that we live in. In fact I'd say that most of them probably think that a politician is some sort of foreign food.


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