Army appeals to millennium man as recruit numbers fall

When the Army boasted it would make a man of you it wasn't joking and the techniques it employed made even the bravest new recruit turn pale at the thought of spartan barracks, gruelling training and ferocious sergeant majors.

But in the caring-sharing new millennium, the macho image doesn't hold quite the same appeal. Which is perhaps one reason why Scotland's armed forces find themselves almost an entire battalion short of soldiers.

Now top brass are repackaging an Army career as an exciting lifestyle with an organisation that wants to make life as pleasant as possible. "People do want to go on operations but they also want the right quality of life when they come back to their barracks," said Colonel Wayne Harber, who is in charge of recruitment for the Army across the UK. "So, we're offering better standards of accommodation for soldiers and their families, allowing them the right level of time off and generally making sure that they're well looked after."

Five of Scotland's six regiments are short of men. Worst affected are the Highlanders, with a shortfall of 155, the Royal Scots, with 112, and the Black Watch Guards, with 95. The Royal Highland Fusiliers is 31 soldiers under strength while the Argyll and Sutherland regiment has eight vacancies. Only the King's Own Royal Scots regiment has a surplus - of just 23. A total of 3700 are employed across the division.

Scotland provides the British Army with 10% of all new recruits and while chiefs insist they continue to hit this target, the quality of candidates is failing to impress. Rather than take on recruits who don't make the grade, the army wants to make itself more attractive to better qualified recruits.

Colonel Harber said: "We are concerned at this shortfall. We are looking at ways of retaining the people we do have and ensuring that this starts at the recruitment stage. We are about 6000 people short across the UK.

"The infantry particularly suffers because they are heavily involved in operational commitments so yes, the manning isn't as good as it should be. We are giving extra support to the three worst-off regiments."

But the Army isn't about to replace simulated battle operations with touchy-feely group therapy sessions just yet. Colonel Harber insists that basic standards in physical fitness and academic potential in new recruits are never relaxed. He simply wants to see higher standards among new intakes. "We need people with all sorts of skills - vehicle mechanics, specialist signals trades. It's a job of the week, a job of the month at the moment."

Lieutenant Colonel David Steel, of the Argyll and Sutherland infantry regiment, who oversees recruitment in Scotland, said: "We will be pushing the infantry as a career of first choice. There's all sorts of factors that make it more difficult for us to recruit than it was in the past. For instance, not many of the current generation have parents in the Army.

"Infantry regiments have various different roles, from providing humanitarian aid in Kosovo to tours of duty in Northern Ireland. The great thing about infantry is its versatility."

The job will be "sold" to the next generation of young recruits with the lure of travel, an excellent social life and a weekly take- home pay of around #200. A glitzy recruitment campaign will be launched in Glasgow next month to compete for the attention of the diminishing pool of talented young Scots men and women in the jobs market.

"I'm looking for people with a bit of go about them, who enjoy an adventure, are fit and motivated to work and who are prepared to use their initiative." said Lt Colonel Steel.

"The lifestyle is good, the pay is good and there is travel and adventure. I would recommend it and see it as a training for life."

Copyright 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.