CASUALTIES DON'T DETER RECRUITS

OTTAWA -- Despite the recent spate of high-profile troop deaths in Afghanistan, the Canadian Forces say their recruiting numbers are up.

Five Canadian soldiers died last week and 13 were injured in four separate incidents, making it the country's deadliest week since military operations began in 2002. That brings the total of Canadians killed in action there to 24, with 16 losing their lives in the past six months.

Yet according to those seeking new recruits, the spike doesn't appear to be having a negative effect on sign-ups.

Maj. Andy Coxhead, public affairs officer for the Canadian Forces' recruiting group, says 17,000 people have submitted applications over the last six months. That includes 9,000 between April and June, a quarter that started with the deaths of four Canadians in a major road-side bomb incident.

"We generally receive about 25,000 applications a year, so that's pretty darn good actually," Coxhead says. "Recruiting is going well right now."

Asked whether the most recent casualties -- or others that are likely to come -- are expected to slow interest, Coxhead says it's hard to predict.

"We won't know until the end of those quarters, but so far interest in the Canadian Forces has remained quite high," he says, adding recruiters report there is a steady feeling of patriotism.
"They say that people are saying they want to serve their country," Coxhead says. "You know, we can extrapolate what that means 100 different ways, but I guess what's clear is it appears operations overseas are not negatively affecting recruiting."

Canada currently has about 2,300 troops in Afghanistan, and has committed to stay until 2009.
Maj. Daniel Veillette, the commanding officer at a recruiting centre in downtown Ottawa, suggests the current operations in Afghanistan may actually be having a positive effect on numbers.

More people have felt the need to serve when Canada has engaged in combat in the past, he says, and that may be happening in this case as well.

"It could be," he says. "We don't have proof of that, but my numbers are as good or better than last year. We have people at the door."

He adds his office is three weeks behind in processing applications.

A sustained recruiting drive will be needed to maintain the Conservatives' pledge to boost the full-time forces by 13,000, bringing the total for all forces (including reservists) to about 75,000.
Defence Minister Gordon has acknowledged recruiting to that level will likely remain a challenge in the coming years.

The government currently has a new advertising campaign in the works in an effort to boost numbers further.


PUBLICATION: The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
DATE: 2006.08.08
BYLINE: James Gordon