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Army recruitment crisis worsens
IAN BRUCE
Defence Correspondent
The Herald
December 26 2005
Scotland's infantry is almost a battalion short of full strength and recruitment and retention is in freefall just three months before the proposed formation of the new Royal Regiment of Scotland. The Herald can reveal that despite a £9m advertising campaign over a period of several months, the six existing units are now 469 men below their fighting establishment.
There are 68 fewer trained soldiers than two months ago, when recruiters were gloomily describing the situation as "dire." The average line battalion has an authorised strength of between 527 and 590 soldiers, depending on its role as light, armoured, or air assault infantry.
To add to the Army's woes, only 344 volunteers have signed up since last April out of an annual target figure of 600, leaving recruiters struggling to find another 300 in the next three months.
Between 15% and 30% already "in the pipeline" will also be lost by failing to pass basic training or deciding to quit, say officers involved.
The current Scottish Division should have 3286 officers and men. It has only 2817, even with the inclusion of 223 Fijiians drafted in to help make up the growing shortfall. One Scottish regiment has 102 in its ranks, the equivalent of a full rifle company and a fifth of its overall manpower.
So many experienced troops are leaving the Army that the Ministry of Defence has cancelled a redundancy scheme offering terms to 200 older NCOs and 120 officers designed to clear the infantry's promotional log-jam.
Now infantry soldiers are being offered a £500 tax-free bounty if they can persuade a friend to enlist to help ease the growing crisis.
According to the MoD's own Defence Analysis Statistics Agency, 12% more individuals left the Army last year than in 2004 and the intake of trained manpower was down by 17.1%.
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders is Scotland's worst-manned regiment with a shortfall of 99 soldiers, followed by the King's Own Scottish Borderers (90), the Royal Scots (87), the Royal Highland Fusiliers (83), the Highlanders (74) and the Black Watch (36).
Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Crawford, one of Scotland's leading military commentators, called yesterday for an emergency defence review to address recruitment and the controversial issue of the new "large regiments" due to be formed next year.
"The disastrous slump in recruitment should come as a surprise to no-one. It's exactly what we all predicted when the so-called regimental reforms were announced last year," he said.
"The Royal Regiment of Scotland will be down to three battalions within five years if the plan is carried through. The Army is paying the price of rewarding loyalty over ability when it comes to the senior officers dictating policy. The pattern of the first world war is now repeating itself. Scottish soldiers are once again lions led by donkeys."
Jeff Duncan, organiser of the Save the Scottish Regiments campaign, added: "This head-long stampede by experienced personnel to leave the Army, coupled with an ineffective recruitment drive, highlights the failure of politicians like Geoff Hoon, the former defence secretary, and his sidekick Adam Ingram.
"Mr Ingram highlights the need for value for money. By my calculations, Scotland is getting one recruit for every £20,000 spent on advertising to shore up Labour's disastrous reorganisation of the Army."
The MoD admits that there are problems with recruiting, but denies that it has reached crisis proportions.
A spokeswoman said that further education opportunities and a buoyant civilian employment market were major factors, with bad publicity over Iraq and soldiers deaths at Deepcut barracks, "unhelpful".
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