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http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id=01EDED26-3299-49E6-951A-B25D129D76CA
Doesn‘t know how many there are, has bungled recruiting, report finds
Mike Blanchfield
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
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The Canadian Forces does not know how many reserve soldiers it has and also has bungled the recruiting of new part-time personnel, a report for Defence Minister John McCallum has concluded.
Those shortcomings continue to hamper the campaign to bolster the reserve force, which is becoming increasingly important to Canada‘s domestic security, including safeguarding against terrorist threats, John Fraser, chairman of the minister‘s monitoring committee on national defence, said yesterday in his latest report card.
"This inability to ascertain the precise number of militia personnel or strength at any one time constitutes an extremely serious accountability problem that needs to be immediately addressed," Mr. Fraser wrote.
Based on pay records, the army concluded it had reached a target of 15,500 reserve soldiers in September 2002, and as a result, stopped recruiting.
However, it is likely the real number was closer to 12,000, Mr. Fraser‘s report said.
The discrepancy was due in part to the military‘s inability to take into account that on average 25 to 35 per cent of reservists leave the Forces each year.
Mr. Fraser also concluded the Forces can‘t precisely trace how the money allocated to the reserves has been spent. He called on the military to ensure that funding and equipment commitments are forthcoming and that "there be no ‘tricks‘ in this commitment, which is bound to be scrutinized very closely."
More also needs to be done to fix bureaucratic and systemic shortcomings in just about every aspect of the recruiting process, including interviewing, physical testing and background checks, said Mr. Fraser.
The average wait to process an application is two months, he said, noting that "application files taking so long to process that potential recruits simply give up waiting for approval."
The Forces also have no capacity to call up large numbers of reservists in an emergency.
Mr. Fraser recommends bringing the reserves up to 30,000 personnel, including a minimum of 18,500 for the army. Reservists have played a key role in past Canadian peacekeeping missions, Mr. Fraser noted, making up 20 per cent of the personnel deployed to the Balkans.
Mr. Fraser acknowledged underfunding of the military may be forcing the regular army to use resources meant for the reserves, something he conceded may be "tantamount to plundering the army reserve."
© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen
Doesn‘t know how many there are, has bungled recruiting, report finds
Mike Blanchfield
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
ADVERTISEMENT
The Canadian Forces does not know how many reserve soldiers it has and also has bungled the recruiting of new part-time personnel, a report for Defence Minister John McCallum has concluded.
Those shortcomings continue to hamper the campaign to bolster the reserve force, which is becoming increasingly important to Canada‘s domestic security, including safeguarding against terrorist threats, John Fraser, chairman of the minister‘s monitoring committee on national defence, said yesterday in his latest report card.
"This inability to ascertain the precise number of militia personnel or strength at any one time constitutes an extremely serious accountability problem that needs to be immediately addressed," Mr. Fraser wrote.
Based on pay records, the army concluded it had reached a target of 15,500 reserve soldiers in September 2002, and as a result, stopped recruiting.
However, it is likely the real number was closer to 12,000, Mr. Fraser‘s report said.
The discrepancy was due in part to the military‘s inability to take into account that on average 25 to 35 per cent of reservists leave the Forces each year.
Mr. Fraser also concluded the Forces can‘t precisely trace how the money allocated to the reserves has been spent. He called on the military to ensure that funding and equipment commitments are forthcoming and that "there be no ‘tricks‘ in this commitment, which is bound to be scrutinized very closely."
More also needs to be done to fix bureaucratic and systemic shortcomings in just about every aspect of the recruiting process, including interviewing, physical testing and background checks, said Mr. Fraser.
The average wait to process an application is two months, he said, noting that "application files taking so long to process that potential recruits simply give up waiting for approval."
The Forces also have no capacity to call up large numbers of reservists in an emergency.
Mr. Fraser recommends bringing the reserves up to 30,000 personnel, including a minimum of 18,500 for the army. Reservists have played a key role in past Canadian peacekeeping missions, Mr. Fraser noted, making up 20 per cent of the personnel deployed to the Balkans.
Mr. Fraser acknowledged underfunding of the military may be forcing the regular army to use resources meant for the reserves, something he conceded may be "tantamount to plundering the army reserve."
© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen