The romantic part of me agrees with 'na grohmiti' here and the image of a local young lad or girl joining up in their local small town or even village. It is an appealing vision. Links to the local community and everyone has an opportunity to join. There really is a lot to like about the idea.
However, the realist part of me agrees with ‘trellheim’ and realises that these outposts even if they are for recruitment purposes only, are useless from a training point of view and stink of FCA and hobbyism rather true citizen soldiery. The solution for getting more numbers in the door isn't looking for a bricks and mortar point of recruitment in each locality where someone can turn up on a parade night and sign up. We all know most of those left shortly after their 3* star training anyway. Also, young people are more likely to engage digitally initially now anyway and would probably rather make their initial contact with their smartphone than blindly turning up on a Tuesday/Wednesday night.
I think the RDF needs to look for the right kind of recruit now and that's why some modicum of reward needs to be there. The private who won't go anywhere unless he can grab transport just down the road is unreliable. That means we need to operate in urban environments co-located with the PDF (as is largely done now) and joiners need to realise that you are giving up time to provide the state some service. This isn't a free to join paid activity club. That probably means those from rural areas will need to have their own transport and pay for their own fuel to get to the barracks week in week out. Yes, it may make it more difficult for someone to casually join but you get someone who shows commitment by driving 45 min each way once a week. Being honest, you could be longer on a bus if you are getting a bus to parade in one of the cities anyway.... Yes, this is disadvantaging the lad with no car who lives far from a barracks but the goal of the RDF is to provide a reserve for the DF, not to provide him with an activity close to home.
That's the model the Brits and the yanks have for their units not located in large cities.
Now back to one of my previous points, this commitment can be rewarded by paying for all activities including parade nights with a quarters day's pay. A Corporal will get roughly a tenner after tax (assuming 40%) for turning up once a week. This would cover his/her diesel at least. A college age 3* gets €15 (assuming they have no part time job and below tax threshold) which probably still pays for 6 cans of cheap pi*s and a bag of chips.
In short, we need to attract people who are willing to give up their time and yes, potentially get screwed over by the system every now and then all because they want to provide some service to the State. On the flip side it could be incentivised by more pay (bet it would cost only a few 100k if we got the numbers in) and getting to perform some fulfilling, challenging and often very fun training.
However, the realist part of me agrees with ‘trellheim’ and realises that these outposts even if they are for recruitment purposes only, are useless from a training point of view and stink of FCA and hobbyism rather true citizen soldiery. The solution for getting more numbers in the door isn't looking for a bricks and mortar point of recruitment in each locality where someone can turn up on a parade night and sign up. We all know most of those left shortly after their 3* star training anyway. Also, young people are more likely to engage digitally initially now anyway and would probably rather make their initial contact with their smartphone than blindly turning up on a Tuesday/Wednesday night.
I think the RDF needs to look for the right kind of recruit now and that's why some modicum of reward needs to be there. The private who won't go anywhere unless he can grab transport just down the road is unreliable. That means we need to operate in urban environments co-located with the PDF (as is largely done now) and joiners need to realise that you are giving up time to provide the state some service. This isn't a free to join paid activity club. That probably means those from rural areas will need to have their own transport and pay for their own fuel to get to the barracks week in week out. Yes, it may make it more difficult for someone to casually join but you get someone who shows commitment by driving 45 min each way once a week. Being honest, you could be longer on a bus if you are getting a bus to parade in one of the cities anyway.... Yes, this is disadvantaging the lad with no car who lives far from a barracks but the goal of the RDF is to provide a reserve for the DF, not to provide him with an activity close to home.
That's the model the Brits and the yanks have for their units not located in large cities.
Now back to one of my previous points, this commitment can be rewarded by paying for all activities including parade nights with a quarters day's pay. A Corporal will get roughly a tenner after tax (assuming 40%) for turning up once a week. This would cover his/her diesel at least. A college age 3* gets €15 (assuming they have no part time job and below tax threshold) which probably still pays for 6 cans of cheap pi*s and a bag of chips.
In short, we need to attract people who are willing to give up their time and yes, potentially get screwed over by the system every now and then all because they want to provide some service to the State. On the flip side it could be incentivised by more pay (bet it would cost only a few 100k if we got the numbers in) and getting to perform some fulfilling, challenging and often very fun training.
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