On a side note if the navy went the way of the army with it constantly missing it's own recruitment targets then would you concede I'm correct or would you stick to the "if people aren't willing to wait years to get in someone else will" attitude? Genuine question
The falling short of targets isn't really anything to do with casting a net.
It's more to do with a changing culture in the world and either an unwillingness or inability to change the way the army works.
I can't remember where I read or heard this but I recently heard of a matelot saying he would 'miss snapchat' whilst deployed. We can get internet access, albeit limited, on a ship.
The army cant exactly take those facilities out into the field for everybody to use. It sounds stupid, but it really is little things like that. When I was in Raleigh I was receiving letters. I dont think iPhones had been out too long then.
Now contact is instant and being away is getting harder and harder for people to deal with.
We're set up to recruit who we need. The most efficient change right now would be to reduce the number of people leaving positions that are short so the recruiting pipeline can catch up.
We might be losing a good applicant with the waiting time but we could lose them at any stage for any reason. I'd rather have someone average who wants to be there than someone awesome who's planning their next move.
Most civilian companies (yes, some do) don't sign you on for 4-5 years and send you to nasty places. Maybe the recruitment process is that long to make sure candidates have enough time to consider their options.
