KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — So many young Canadians want to become trigger pullers in Afghanistan that the army is not accepting any new infantry recruits at the moment, according to the army’s top general.
“I am 1,600 infantrymen over my establishment,” Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie said Thursday, adding that the high numbers of recruits who want to “serve at the tip of the spear . . . completely refuted” any notion that there were problems getting people to serve in a wartime army.
“I still want young Canadians to show up at recruiting offices, but it just so happens that right now if you want to join the infantry, we’re completely full,” Leslie said.
The military also has many more volunteers for Afghanistan duty than there are places, the general — an artillery gunner by trade — said during an interview conducted after he had spent several days “outside the wire” in Kandahar with combat troops.
Canada’s three infantry regiments have about 6,000 infantrymen, so these units — which have traditionally suffered the most in battle, as has been the case in Afghanistan — are presently more than 25 per cent oversubscribed.
[More]
It heartens me to no end that there are so many young Canadians that want to be a part of the armed forces, despite the obvious risks. And it’s not as though the Canadian recruiters are playing down the risks in any way.
Our ads say this:
Fight… in the Canadian Armed Forces.
The American ads are a bunch of psychobabble with these mini-dramas taking place between parents and children. “He’s going to keep talking about it. And I’m going to keep listening,” says the mother in one ad. She sounds like a guest on Oprah, not a potential army mom. And before anyone blames Obama for those sorry ads (c’mon, you know you want to) don’t bother, because they’ve been running for years now.
Can you blame American kids for turning their nose up at the services when it’s being so obviously soft-peddled that it insults their intelligence?
“Want to become trigger pullers” What a bullshit Lame stream media that line is.
Rob C
The RCMP shut down recruiting a number of years back (Paul Martin balancing the budget). The result, a serious shortage of officers. Watch history repeat itself here.
It may also be an indicator of the very few jobs open to young people (and udders) because of the present ‘made in the U.S.’ economic turn-down which has negatively affected us up here.