Retention and Recruitment Crisis

[BloodStripe]

There was some very well researched performance study done that distributed around but focused on a Ranger Battalion and one of the things that stuck out to me other than a lot of the programming was comparing physical activity of elite athletes to NARPs. Essentially, we want Soldiers to physically perform like athletes. Well an elite athlete generally trains about 3-4 hours per day for like a field sport. So, when I was in I was usually hitting the gym 3-4 days per week for about an hour or hour and a half. The other days I was playing rugby. So I was doing about 15-20 hours of physical activity per week.

Here’s the larger part of the issue, we want soldiers to perform like athletes and so we train them like athletes when instead we should be training them to be soldiers.

 

[Topkick]

Here’s the larger part of the issue, we want soldiers to perform like athletes and so we train them like athletes when instead we should be training them to be soldiers.

Agree, but two things can be true at once.

 

[BloodStripe]

Because base housing is so amazing…

 

[SOSTCRNA]

Grandson just raised his hand to join the army as a 91F small arms/ artillery repair with an Option 40. Reporting in August so he can play his last year of high school baseball this summer. It’s a long road but he seems properly motivated to succeed.

 

[Viper1]

Grandson just raised his hand to join the army as a 91F small arms/ artillery repair with an Option 40. Reporting in August so he can play his last year of high school baseball this summer. It’s a long road but he seems properly motivated to succeed.

Congratulations!

I’ll pre-empt this question now… why so long in the delayed entry program to ship?

Multiple reasons: one, we’ve found that letting applicants help set their ship date (as in the case above) keeps them motivated to ship. They get to finish out whatever activities they want.

For those applicants who want to quick ship with have a small bonus available. Those are few and far between because…

We have mostly maxed out the basic training space we have available at all sites. Last five years we’ve created additional reception and basic training battalions. Between land, ammo, barracks, food, ans drill instructors, we have maxed our Jackson, Benning, sill, Knox, Leonard wood, etc. It’s simple math.

 

[Viper1]

U.S. Army unveils lean Mobile Brigade Combat Team built for modern warfare

I haven't seen actual force structures from ARTSTRUC...but when you get rid of your engineers, your artillery, and you cavalry battalions/squadrons. You don't have a BCT. You have a Brigade. There is a difference because you don't have a mixed force capability.

But also, what is the end strength in the NDAA? How lean are we getting and why? Remember the BCT structure actually leaned out the force structure and made units deployable as BCTs because they had everything organic. Is the intent to actually fight as divisions again? Because that would be wild.

Intent is to fight as divisions again, yes.

End strength is 466,000 in the active component. CSA wants 90% fill on all -10 level for all MOS by end of next year, and recruiting mission 60,000K for the next three years.

 

[Devildoc]

When I was growing up I was always under the assumption that you literally walked in the recruiter's office, signed the paperwork, and left the next day, just like on TV and in the movies. It is really quite the process.

 

[RackMaster]

While in theory I think this is a good idea. Our security screening is seriously lacking and behind. We rely to heavily on local documentation from country of origin for background checks.

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CAF diversity up, as permanent residents join military - Canadian Affairs CAF diversity up, as permanent residents join military

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CAF diversity up, as permanent residents join military
The Canadian Armed Forces is becoming more diverse among most identity groups, driven in part by explosive growth in the number of permanent residents joining the military
Avatar photo
by Sam Forster
October 22, 2025
A CAF soldier fires a handgun.
A CAF soldier fires a handgun.
Read: 4 min
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is becoming more diverse every day, a new report from Canada’s auditor general says.

But the CAF has managed to boost the representation of certain identity groups better than others, the Oct. 21 report says.

Auditor-General Karen Hogan examined recruitment in the CAF between April 2022 and March 2025. She found the organization is falling short of its female recruitment targets, but exceeding its targets for Indigenous people and other visible minorities.

The report also shows a dramatic rise in the number of permanent residents joining the Forces since it changed its security screening requirements in October 2024.

In the first year of the review, the CAF recruited just eight permanent residents. Two years later, that number had ballooned to 823.

Diversity push
The auditor general found the military surpassed its own targets for recruiting both Indigenous and visible minorities.

Indigenous recruits grew from four per cent of new recruits in 2022–23 to five per cent in the subsequent two fiscal years. Visible minorities grew from 20 per cent of new recruits in 2022–23 to 28 per cent by 2024–25.

These numbers significantly exceeded the CAF’s targets of 3.5 per cent and 11.8 per cent for Indigenous peoples and visible minorities, respectively.

Representation of women, however, remained below the CAF’s longstanding goal of 25 per cent. Women now make up about 18 per cent of the CAF, up from 14 per cent in 2016.

The report found that only four per cent of female applicants were ultimately recruited, compared with nine per cent of male applicants, despite the CAF’s policy of prioritizing women in hiring.


Internal CAF analysis cited in the audit suggests that lower female recruitment is partly due to doubts about applicants’ ability to meet physical or medical standards, their fears of combat service and concerns about their mental health.

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A related Department of National Defence statement from Oct. 6 states that “barriers [for potential female applicants] include … concerns about work-life balance, separation from friends and family, potential marginalization in a male-dominated work environment, and the perception that it is not possible to pursue a preferred career field in the military.”


‘Future citizens’
Until 2022, only Canadian citizens were eligible to serve in the Canadian military.

That December, then-defence minister Anita Anand announced that citizens from other countries would become eligible to join the CAF if they secured permanent residency in Canada.

In a statement of support for the move, then-minister of immigration Sean Fraser referred to this new pool of potential recruits as “future citizens.”

“Many of these future citizens already work in key sectors across Canada,” said Fraser in an online news release. “And I am pleased that they will now have the opportunity to make an extraordinary contribution to Canada by choosing a career in service of the country they now call home.”

Prior to October 2024, any permanent resident who had lived in or visited a foreign country was subject to additional vetting. That month, the CAF reduced its vetting procedures, allowing permanent residents who had not lived in or travelled to higher-risk countries to be processed under the same framework as Canadian citizens.

Recruitment of permanent residents grew dramatically after these changes. Over the first two years of the audit period, the Forces recruited just 177 permanent residents. In the seven months following the reform, that number jumped to 763.