Canadian Forces Considering Dropping Citizenship Requirements

By: Tony Keene, CBC News Opinions

The Canadian Armed Forces recently said that in the interest of boosting ranks, it is considering changing its requirement that recruits have Canadian citizenship — a policy that many assumed to be longstanding.

In fact, the longstanding practice in our military has been to enroll non-citizens. It has long been part of our military tradition. If it had not been, I wouldn't be here writing this column.

In the First World War, the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which fought on the Western Front, was largely made up of British-born men throughout the entire four years of that conflict. They were given priority for recruitment in some cases, and even as late as October of 1917, a survey showed that the CEF was still 55 per cent British. And that was all ranks. If you take out the officers, who were largely Canadian-born, the percentage rises to about 65 per cent.

And that, after more than three years of war.

Canada was awarded 73 Victoria Crosses in that conflict. Only 30 of them went to those born in this country; the rest went to foreigners, almost all of them British.

When the war ended, large numbers of those men did not come home to Canada, but went back to the British Isles. They weren't Canadian, and did not consider themselves to be. Most of them joined because they were unemployed, and wanted to go home to Britain. Three hots and a cot, and a steamship bunk.

After the Second World War, when not only Brits but many Americans served in our uniforms, the Royal Canadian Air Force was being equipped with the Bomarc anti-aircraft missile. The need for increased security prompted the formation of an Air Force Police branch, and recruiters immediately set out, not across Canada but across the Atlantic, seeking to lure the famed British Bobby to come to our shores.

At the time, the the Metropolitan London Police were thought to be the finest police force on earth, and Brit cops were thought to be superior overall.

One of those was my father.

Recruitment on the streets of London

Having served in the Household Cavalry, he was now in the Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch. While riding through the streets of London in 1955, he was hailed by a Canadian air force recruiter:

"Good morning constable! Are you thinking about emigrating? The Royal Canadian Air Force needs policemen."

And that's how I got here.

After living in Alberta for five years, we were posted to France, and then Germany with the 1st Canadian Air Division.

I remember going into the guardhouse at Grostenquin in France to see my father, and hearing nothing but British accents from everyone in there. The entire shift was British.

The author's father, Cpl. Jack Keene, being decorated at RCAF 2 Wing, Grostenquin, France in 1961. (Supplied)

Upon our return to Canada in 1964, we settled at Base Borden in Ontario and at the age of 17, I joined my local militia regiment, the Grey and Simcoe Foresters. Citizenship was never an issue. Three years later, I was commissioned and joined my local newspaper, The Barrie Examiner, and my two careers moved forward in tandem.

We were called "landed immigrants" and for all intents and purposes, we were the same as citizens.

When my father retired in 1969, we were still not citizens, and this caused a flap when my parents returned to Britain for two years and then tried to come back. They were turned down as "undesirable immigrants" and it took newspaper headlines and a ministerial warrant to allow them back in.

We all became Canadian citizens shortly after that. I remember walking into the citizenship office in uniform, as I was on reserve duty at the time. I was shown into an office where a woman administered the oath, had me sign a piece of paper, and that was it. My certificate arrived in the mail shortly afterwards.

Enrolling non-citizens in the Forces is a Canadian tradition going back to the beginning of our military. This is nothing new, and it will not only provide us with skilled and trained soldiers, but eventually with more solid citizens, especially if we give them a "fast track" way of doing it.

If the world needs more Canada, Canada needs more Canadians. This is another good way to get them.

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RCAF Seeks to Manage Shortfall of Pilots

By Chris Thatcher, RCAF News 

Originally Published in Skies Magazine

The RCAF is addressing staffing shortages through targeted
and creative retention and recruitment strategies.

Royal Canadian Air Force CT-155 Hawk aircraft fly in close formation over the desert during Exercise Antler South at the Naval Air Facility El Centro in California, U.S., on November 30, 2017. PHOTO: Ordinary Seaman Erica Seymour, CK02-2017-1043-033

The pilotless cockpit may one day become the norm, but for the foreseeable future, pilots will remain in high demand.

Global forecasts by commercial aircraft manufacturers, airlines and industry associations anticipate a need for 500,000 new pilots over the next 20 years, as new routes open and existing markets expand. In Canada alone, more than 7,000 new pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors will be required between 2016 and 2025, according to the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace.

Yet projections by organizations such as the International Air Transport Association suggest those targets will be difficult, if not impossible, to meet.

For military air forces already struggling to retain experienced pilots, aircrews and maintenance technicians, those forecasts are cause for concern. Few will have trouble attracting prospective pilots–applicants who since they were young boys and, increasingly, girls, are still drawn to the wonder and excitement of flying a fighter jet or maritime helicopter.

But the lure of commercial pay cheques, especially for maintainers, may challenge an air force’s ability to hold on to its best people while managing a normal rate of attrition.

The United States Air Force (USAF), for one, has felt the pressure of commercial hiring and a draining operational tempo in recent years. Lieutenant General Gina Grosso, the USAF’s personnel chief, told the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel in March 2017 that the entire air force was short 1,555 pilots, including 1,211 fighter pilots, as of the end of fiscal year 2016. The warning prompted Congress to authorize an increase in bonus pay to as much as $35,000 per year, up from the previous cap of $25,000, to retain talent.

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has traditionally been able to maintain an acceptable 10-year attrition rate of about 6.5 per cent, a turnover necessary to the overall health of the organization. But with the growing demand for aircrews and maintainers, “we are seeing an uptick and it has increased the pressure,” acknowledged Lieutenant-Colonel Rich Kohli, whose team within the directorate of air personnel strategy monitors occupation health and develops recruitment plans.

At first glance, the RCAF is in reasonably good shape. All aircrew officer occupations are above the 80 per cent range of desired strength: pilots are at about 84 per cent; air combat systems officers are at 80 per cent; and aerospace engineering officers are around 98 per cent.

Maintenance technicians are also well accounted for, averaging around 96 per cent of desired strength, though specific trades such as aircraft structures are about 87 per cent.

But the RCAF is working through a problem that originated in the 1990s, when the federal government cut spending and reduced the size of the military, prompting many to accept a golden handshake before retiring from service. That created a gap in the force that is now affecting training, maintenance, and operations. Those who left would today be among the most experienced instructors, technicians and squadron leaders, with 18 to 20 years of service under their belts.

“We have very few people with 18 years of experience right now,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli. “It would have given us a larger cadre to draw from to fill those critical positions. They would be our most experienced people involved in the line operations.

“It means we have a smaller population of people at that rate. So the attrition of a single senior pilot, for example, in Trenton right now would be felt quite dramatically when there isn’t a large group of people to draw from to replace that individual.”

Complicating matters further, the RCAF is also experiencing the gradual retirement of the baby boom generation, in many cases the very personnel who picked up the slack when the force was downsized.

“We are hitting that demographic bubble where a large number of individuals—about 20 per cent of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF)—are in that retirement zone and eligible for annuity,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Elisa Cass, who oversees attraction, in-service selection, research and retention for the directorate of air personnel strategy. “That is still primarily the reason people are leaving.”

She noted, however, that many have opted to remain in the Reserve Force, allowing the Air Force to “keep their corporate skills.” Or, they have decided to return after a stint in the commercial sector, a move her team works to “expedite to the greatest extent possible.”

The RCAF has also welcomed a handful of allied pilots interested in joining the force to bridge that experience gap, but it’s a touchy area since allies have an informal agreement to not “poach” each other’s aircrews. Ultimately, the bubble will have to run its course, Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli said.

In response to a shortfall of roughly 4,000 maintainers at the end of fiscal year 2016 due to a variety of factors, including budget cuts over the past decade, the USAF took the dramatic step of upping the number of new maintainers it enrols in the training system each year from 6,000 to 8,000. That has reduced the deficit to just 400 technicians, but created challenges in providing sufficient training platforms.

Unfortunately, even if it were possible, significantly increasing the quantity of trainees will not solve the problem in Canada without affecting operations, Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli noted. For one, the RCAF lacks that large pool of experienced instructors and, as commander Lieutenant-General Mike Hood told the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence in November 2016, “Our occupations are highly technical and require long periods of training.”

“It can take pilots three and a half years just to get their wings, and most technicians, from when they are enrolled, take about three years before they are on units fixing airplanes,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli. “If we are short 200 technicians somewhere, we can’t just have 200 basic qualified people show up tomorrow. We have to bring them up to ensure they develop expertise in their particular field.”

In the past two years, the RCAF has increased the number of pilots receiving their wings to about 110 from the five-year average of about 95, the number necessary to meet normal attrition rates. Not surprisingly, the RCAF has “no problems attracting pilots,” Lieutenant-Colonel Cass said, with the CAF receiving about 1,000 applicants each year. However, only one third–about 300–survives a rigorous aptitude test at the aircrew selection centre in Trenton, and just 150 to 200 are enrolled annually.

Technicians pose a more significant challenge. In total, the RCAF receives about 425 to 450 maintainers per year into the training system and graduates between 375 and 400, Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli said. But in fiscal year 2017/18, which ran until March 31, the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group (CFRG) had processed 503 applicants on behalf of the RCAF for aviation, avionics and air weapons technicians, and enrolled 204 as of late December 2017. That is about 100 fewer applicants and 50 fewer enrolled than in fiscal year 2016/17, though the RCAF expects to be just short of last year’s intake by the end of the fiscal year.

“We are seeing shortfalls in our annual recruiting targets,” he said, though he emphasized the RCAF remains “discerning” in who it selects for aircrew. “We want to make sure that people who are trained have a high probability of success.”
In search of retention keys

As part of a new defence policy, “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, released in June 2017, the Canadian government laid out several initiatives to “retain valuable military skills and accommodate changing career paths,” including more flexibility in career options and enticements to encourage more former Regular Force personnel to remain in service by transitioning to the Reserve Force.

It also proposed a comprehensive CAF-wide retention strategy. In conjunction, the RCAF is now developing an Air Force-specific plan, gathering evidence-based research from a variety of sources and directly from members to identify “key things we need to focus on,” explained Lieutenant-Colonel Cass. That will include a way for members “to anonymously make suggestions that would help retain them longer” through the RCAF website.

The reasons for leaving the military are as varied and personal as the reasons for why members originally joined, and what might entice them to remain in service is equally diverse. Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli noted the RCAF commander has “limited levers” and focuses on job satisfaction and ensuring people have the tools to do the job well within the RCAF, while working with the Military Personnel Command on things like retention bonuses or other benefits packages.

As RCAF commander, Lieutenant-General Hood has also launched a concerted effort to encourage the flow of innovative ideas. “While I uphold the chain of command for the controlled use of force and for military operations, I am flattening the organization when it comes to sharing and considering innovative ideas from all ranks and occupations,” he explained to the Senate defence committee in 2016. “In our online forums we have aviators commenting on complex ideas alongside generals and colonels. That is a cultural evolution that I want to see continue to grow.”

To date, that approach has included a Vector Check modelled on the popular TV show, “Dragon’s Den”, which provides any aviator with a chance to “sell” senior leadership on an idea or solution, and the launch of an innovation hub in the Waterloo, Ontario, technology triangle intended to expose Air Force personnel to the tech entrepreneur mindset. That cultural change in the RCAF alone may encourage airmen and airwomen to remain in service, but Lieutenant-Colonel Cass’s team will also be monitoring the “suggestion box” for any novel ideas around retention and recruitment.
Targeted recruitment a strategic game

The defence policy also committed to grow the CAF to 101,500 personnel, an increase of 3,500 for the Regular Force, to 71,500, and 1,500 for the Reserve Force, to 30,000. Much of the growth is aimed at filling needs in space-, cyber- and intelligence-related occupations, but could include additional aircrews and technicians as the RCAF introduces new maritime helicopter and fixed-wing search and rescue (SAR) fleets, considers expanding its SAR helicopter fleet, and moves forward with a plan to acquire new fighter jets and remotely piloted aerial systems.

A senior government official acknowledged during a briefing in December that even the interim fighter program, which will see delivery of 18 Australian F/A-18A/B Hornets to augment the current fleet, could mean a need for more pilots and technicians, and that “retention and recruitment efforts were underway.”

While flying or working on cutting-edge aircraft is admittedly “a huge hook” to attract talent, the RCAF nonetheless faces stiff competition for skilled trades and technology workers, said Kohli.

All sectors are chasing the same demographic, so the military has had to experiment and be “adaptive to the marketing strategies [of] our competition,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Dan Mainguy, the senior staff officer for marketing and attractions with the CFRG.

The CFRG applies benchmark enrollment criteria provided by the Army, Navy and Air Force to deliver increasingly creative and often very targeted recruitment campaigns, using online and various social media channels and face-to-face specialist recruiters to identify and interact with potential candidates. One program, called “Ask Me Anything”, gives prospective candidates direct online access for an hour to a serving member of similar age to answer any questions about their job.

“It is a very strategic game, played out tactically across the country,” Lieutenant-Colonel Mainguy said. “We really have to create a value proposition as part of our marketing strategy to be competitive alongside industry. We do very well as far as offering a salary that is relatively competitive with the rest of industry, but we have to sell all of the other intangibles [such as] professional development throughout a career, diversity of employment, diversity of location, bilingualism, pension benefits…to be more competitive.”

Aerospace-specific programs at trade schools and colleges have also become a prime target for RCAF and CFRG specialist recruiters. Members of Cass’s team have audited aircraft maintenance courses to understand the skills students acquire and are finding “between 70 to 90 per cent of our core military material is being covered,” she said. “Those programs are so well delivered that oftentimes the training that we have to provide is very minor once they come in.”

To encourage students to consider the RCAF before embarking on a commercial sector career, the Air Force is also marketing the fact that journeyman status for most trades can be acquired in much shorter time and at far less cost.

And it is providing credit for such programs by shortening the length of some courses once a trainee has completed basic training, and accelerating promotion. “Both pay and rank are biased to recognize what they are bringing to the table as semi-skilled entrants,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli.
Working smarter

Personnel shortages are often cyclical and carefully managed to minimize their impact on operations, but retention and recruiting issues will likely remain a constant challenge as Canadian demographics continue to change. So, the Air Force will have to work smarter, Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli acknowledged. That will mean greater use of simulation in the training system and to keep pilots current, reserving precious flying hours for operations.

In December, Lieutenant-General Hood directed staff to look at using other air operations officers to perform operations tasks, keeping qualified pilots focused on flying. And an air combat systems officer (ACSO), rather than a pilot instructor, may provide the initial cadre of unmanned aerial systems pilots. “It may require a dedicated operator or we may be able to continue on the ACSO route, or we may find that a pilot is actually required,” Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli explained. “It will depend on the hardware of the system that we put into place.”

New fleets with ever more complex sensor systems will also mean fundamental changes for technician training. More maintenance will be contracted, meaning “maintainers won’t need to know how every one and zero is working inside the box. They [will] need to be more focused on management of the systems, to be more aware of software versions,” Lieutenant-Colonel Kohli said.

The pilotless cockpit is estimated by some to be a decade away, though militaries, despite embracing unmanned drones, will take decades more to be totally comfortable with the idea of no pilots in their fighter, transport, maritime patrol and tactical aviation fleets.

In the meantime, they will have to continue applying innovative and focused personnel strategies to attract and retain the aircrews and technicians needed to keep those aircraft flying. And if some do seek opportunities in the commercial sector? Canadian aviation will be the beneficiary of well-trained, high-quality people.

Interest in CAF Remains High - US Looking North of the Border for Recruitment Ideas

The Canadian Press, The Columbia Valley Pioneer

A sharp drop in Americans willing to sign up for their country’s armed forces attributed in part to a steady mass-media diet of wounded soldiers, wars without end, and mistreated veterans is a recruiting problem Canadian military brass say they don’t have — with exceptions.

Far more Canadians show interest in enlisting than the armed forces actually take in any given year. (Facebook/CanadianArmy)

This month, the Pentagon began a major initiative aimed at exploring the “myths” many Americans have about their military in an effort to counteract a growing reluctance to serve. North of the border, far more Canadians — by a factor of 10 — show interest in enlisting than the armed forces actually take in any given year.

“Over the past few years, we’ve had no difficulty in recruiting to meet the numbers assigned to us by the chain of command or the government of Canada,” said Col. Andre Demers, who heads recruiting efforts from his base at CFB Borden, Ont. “We’re meeting our overall recruiting goals, globally.”

The main problem on the recruiting end in Canada, according to Demers, is finding qualified applicants for the more specialized trades, such as medical personnel, aviation technicians or IT specialists where competition with civilian society is fierce.

“Overall, the interest in the Canadian Armed Forces is there,” Demers said. “We have enough people to generate enough qualified applicants that are reflecting Canadian society and values to meet our overall requirements.”

U.S. survey results show the proportion of youth who felt the military provided an attractive lifestyle plunged from 63 per cent to 35 per cent between 2004 to 2016. As a result, the new Pentagon initiative to address the “growing civilian-military divide” aims to introduce the American public to the “real lives” of individuals serving, and correct common myths about military life.

Part of the problem, the Pentagon says, is that fewer than one per cent of Americans are currently serving, leading to a “natural disconnect” between civilians and the military and a growing ignorance about the services.

“People are having fewer direct interactions with service members,” the U.S. Department of Defense says.

Even on a relative scale, the sheer size and needs of the U.S. military dwarfs its Canadian counterpart.

For example, the Americans estimate they need an average 264,000 new recruits each year to maintain the operational readiness of a standing military estimated at roughly 1.2 million. Canada, by contrast, seeks about 5,000 recruits each year for its regular forces of about 68,000 and about 5,000 people show interest every month.

David Perry, vice-president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said the Canadian Armed Forces have less of an image problem than does the U.S. military. A key issue here, he said, is the time it takes from enlistment to getting newcomers into uniform and, as the terminology goes, “trained and effective.”

“In terms of the public image, the American military has remained much more in the public eye than the Canadian one has,” Perry said. “(But) getting people who are interested into the military is a larger problem than in the United States. It’s more of a bureaucratic and human resource issue than an attraction issue.”

Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of Canada’s defence staff, said recently the military has several initiatives underway aimed at speeding up the recruitment process. The military is also specifically trying to attract more women, visible minorities, members of the LGBTQ community and other segments of society that have been historically under-represented.

“What we’re trying to do is normalize the system and make it better overall,” Vance told The Canadian Press. “There’s no question about it: We’re growing. And it’s going to start slow and it’s going to pick up.”

Christian Leuprecht, a professor at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., said the Canadian Armed Forces has generally looked to a bigger segment of the population from which to attract would-be soldiers than the U.S. traditionally has done.

“We have a broader pool of recruits by trying to make the Canadian Forces as inclusive as possible,” Leuprecht said. “We are not fighting turf wars over things like gays in the military and can women serve in combat trades. Those are all hatchets that we buried.”


Still, Canada’s efforts to make its forces more representative of the population — such as signing up fewer white men from rural areas of the Prairies and Maritimes — has proven challenging. For example, military brass are aiming to increase female participation to 25 per cent of serving personnel by 2025 — a goal made elusive by ongoing stories of sexual harassment by women who have enlisted.

“When you’re continually highlighting past problems with sexual impropriety, that’s probably not the best selling point at actually getting people in the door,” Perry said.

Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press