A cadets perspective on whether to stay in or to get out..... after 18 years in, I might start taking their advice!!! Or not. BTW, I was in cadets, and I don't recall giving Reg F guys career advice, or questioning their motives for leaving. But that was before the advent of the internet, which has made everybody smarter.
I have been doing a lot of soul-searching lately over pulling pole at 20 years. The CF took a major nose dive, and to be honest the only thing that kept me in after 10 years was the pension at 20. I was always hoping for things to get better.... but they didn't..... until lately. Once Gen Hillier became CDS, things started to seem to change. Sure, he's Armour Corps at heart, so he gets my vote on that. But once I saw the people that are "on board" and after the last 2 days of PD (professional development) and the peek I got behind the curtain of what's coming down the pike (presentations by the folks in Kingston and Ottawa ..... 5 years ago I probably would have vomitted over the "initiatives" that they had, but there is actually a 'vision'), I'm almost giddy with joy. Recruiting is changing, the direction the CF is taking (sorry boys in blue) which is more "green" than it has been, and I'm not talking hugging a tree, and the possibility of a soldier getting a chance to be a soldier, and not a peacekeeper, or whatever we have morphed into. The future seems so bright I have to wear issue dark-tinted ballistic eyewear....
The people in power are actually passionate about changing the run-down jalopy that we were on. Sure it got us from point A to point B, but it's time to trade 'er in for something decent. I think that a lot of the changes that real soldiers/sailors/airmen want (not 8 to 4 civvies-in-uniform) will happen, and people will actually want to come to work. I wish I could convince the guys that are getting out in the not to distant future that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't actually a train bearing down on us (as the last 10-15 years seemed to be). But, sometimes it's hard to believe that the changes that are being made won't be reversed by the next regime. Having said that, look at the crowd near the top, and the faces are somewhat boyish, but hard. Lordy, a fella might actually be able to say that he's a soldier to a civilian, and have that civilian actually look at him with admiration. Imagine that....
So, to answer your question (somewhat), it isn't always about money, and to be honest, I think that a mistake was to pay us too well. A lot of the dead wood we have wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the (relatively) easy money. Nobody ever joined the army to get rich, because you do it for other reasons. Giving people a lot of money, and dropping the standards (not neccesarily in that order), and not making them perform is a recipe for mediocrity. Give us a decent pay, reasonable benefits, good equipment, excellent training and experience, and that's all most soldier's would want. And believe it not, good leadership (Gen Hillier and his team) makes all the difference in the world. Anyone remember Gen Boyle? Gen de Chastelain? Gen Henault? There's probably a reason: they were not there for us when we needed them.
Am I a Gen Hillier cheerleader? Give me CADPAT pom-poms and I will line the parade route, and I will do my little cheer: Give me a Y! Give me a E! Give me a S! What does that spell? YES!!!
It only makes me wish it happened 10+ years ago....
Al
