They say there’s no recruiting sergeant like a war, but in the absence of any fresh conflict, last week the Army launched its new recruitment campaign. A batch of posters dressed up in the style of the Lord Kitchener first world war ads popped up with modern-day phrases such as ‘Snowflakes’, ‘Me me me millennials’, and ‘phone zombies’, in an attempt to lure young people. In a moment of extreme irony, one Scots Guardsman, whose face appeared on one of the posters with the slogan ‘Snowflakes - the Army needs you and your compassion’, has told friends that he would submit his resignation at the earliest possible opportunity, after being mocked about it. Snowflakes, indeed.
Reactions elsewhere have been divisive. One Twitter user suggested that the Army ought to get its facts right, having apparently confused Generation Z (those born from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, whom it is presumably targeting), and Millennials (those born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s, whom are accused of snowflake-like behaviour). ‘If you’re going to try to manipulate people, best make it the right people.’ Meanwhile, former SAS Regimental Sergeant Major James Deegan MC described the campaign as ‘clever’, and territorial army officer and Conservative MP James Cleverly defended the campaign. ‘The army has always recruited from the society it serves and often from those who some described as “not up to the mark”. It then turns those recruits into world class soldiers'. A commanding officer of 18 years service adds that ‘the soldiers that turn up in my regiment today are exactly the same as those I fought with in Iraq, and those who went to Northern Ireland and the Falklands.’
But that anyone is talking about the new campaign at all means that it has worked. Given the constant messaging in today’s world, puncturing the public consciousness is increasingly difficult. ‘It’s already been successful in that it’s got people talking about recruitment, which, let’s be honest, is not sexy,’ says one officer. ‘There will be a ripple effect of awareness on the back of that.’
Let’s hope so. For now, the Army is struggling with recruitment. The force ought to have 82,000 trained soldiers, but is limping along with between 74,000 and 75,000, according to a former chief of the defence staff. And that doesn’t take into account those who are currently non-deployable - those, who in the event of world war three, would be grounded. The former chief suggests that the deployable army is ‘around 25 per cent less than you think.’
Capita, the outsourcing firm that in 2012 was given a ten-year contract to deliver British Army recruitment services, has plenty to answer for this. In October, the Ministry of Defence released figures showing that Capita had brought in fewer than one in ten of the recruits required over the first quarter of 2018. Giving evidence to the Commons Defence Select Committee, MOD permanent secretary Stephen Lovegrove acknowledged that Capita had ‘underperformed’. According to the National Audit Office, the firm has missed the Army’s targets every year since 2013. Its online recruitment system, which was due to launch in July 2013, didn’t make it online until November 2017. Quite frankly, says one officer, Capita should have never been put in charge of the project at all. ‘They have not covered themselves in glory. I wouldn’t have let them do it in the first place.’
While Capita - sometimes nicknamed ‘Crapita’ - has its role to play, so too does the retention of existing personnel. The Royal Artillery, says one gunner, has a good ethos, so manages to recruit well enough, but retention is an issue. An officer friend says he is ‘bored’ by his job, and feels underpaid, under-utilised and under-appreciated. In other regiments, retention issues manifest for other reasons.
Officers in the Household Division, which comprises the Household Cavalry and the Foot Guards, have been traditionally difficult to hold on to. Joining after university, often (although not, now, entirely exclusively) from the signet-ringed ranks of the British public school system, many only manage three or four years before resigning to make money elsewhere. Time of life is a primary factor in why so many don’t make it as far as Major, says an officer in his 40s who has stuck it out for the top job. ‘Your mates are getting serious jobs, buying serious houses and settling down. Meanwhile, you just see yourself gadding around in camouflage pyjamas for the foreseeable future.’
Of course, not everyone wants to make General - or even Colonel. Few should. It is in the Army’s interest to have a healthy rotation of officers and soldiers. But the knack is keeping the good people interested and inspired, with some kind of purpose. This is harder during peacetime. A junior officer complains that he is losing three of ‘quite literally my best soldiers’ to other opportunities. ‘So much emphasis is placed on numbers, but when the quality starts to bleed away too, that’s dangerous.’ But what’s the answer? It needn’t just be a big, bloody war. ‘There are loads of fascinating jobs in the Army, you’ve just go to look for them, and not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone,’ sighs a Household Division officer who has done just that.
Public engagement is key. ‘We haven’t done well post-Iraq at explaining why we have an army now,’ says a senior officer. ‘People struggle to understand what we are training for.’ This week, a new three-part series for ITV, ‘The Paras: Men of War’, begins, looking in detail at the roughty-toughty Parachute Regiment. This may well stir some 16-year-olds in their sitting rooms. The proof will be in next year’s pudding.
It has been less than a year since General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith took over from General Sir Nick Carter as Chief of the General Staff. The Old Etonian, says a comrade, has a reputation for being a ‘little bit lazy’, but this will do him well, in contrast to his predecessor’s frenetic approach. If anyone can fix this recruitment and retention problem, ‘it’s Mark,’ says an old friend. As one officer puts it: ‘Even the Navy has better recruitment campaigns than us.’ Godspeed, General.