11-03-2025
Britain's Armed Forces remain hamstrung by sluggish recruitment
SIR – There is obviously a need to strengthen our Armed Forces, and an increase in the defence budget will be welcome. However, without a new mindset, nothing will improve.
Take the current recruitment process. My 18-year-old granddaughter applied to join the Royal Fleet Auxiliary at the end of December, and completed her online testing in the first week of January. This was followed by the submission of a formal application a week later. She has heard very little since, other than that the process can take seven to eight months.
It is not surprising that the Armed Forces are struggling to recruit manpower with this approach. Most applicants worthy of a position will have found other employment by the time they hear back, and quite possibly begun to climb the promotion ladder. They will be reluctant to give this up in order to start as new recruits.
In 1974, when I joined the Army as a telecommunications apprentice, the whole process was completed within weeks rather than many months. Why, in these days of instantaneous communication, is it taking so long?
Antony Mann
Millbrook, Cornwall
SIR – In 1944, at the peak of the Second World War, Britain was producing more than 2,000 aircraft a month, as well as large numbers of ships, tanks and other military vehicles. Today, however, the complexity of the technology means that even if 20 new Typhoon aircraft were ordered tomorrow, we would not see them for two or three years.
Manpower is also critical to defence. You cannot make instant sergeants or captains, the ranks (along with their equivalents) that form the backbone of our fighting elements. You need to 'grow' this experience. The current Armed Forces are in no state to support adequate growth in these key areas if the military were required to expand rapidly.
Delaying the ramp-up of military funding until 2027 leaves us negligently vulnerable. The defence budget needs to increase to 2.5 per cent of GDP now – then by half a percentage point each year until we achieve 4 per cent. This would give us some chance of training manpower and gaining additional equipment. It would also signal to our allies in Europe that we are serious.
Laurence Barnes
Tattenhall, Cheshire
SIR – As one of the last people to undertake National Service in Britain (1959-1961), I believe that it should be reintroduced.
It served several purposes besides defence, the main one being to convert boys into men. I completed mine during the 'Teddy Boy' era, and as a country boy was alarmed by the 'DA' hairstyles and velvet collar jackets. But within 12 weeks these men would be prepared to die for you.
Tom Beverley Jones
Falmouth, Cornwall
