We have service people from Overseas on exchange programs already and that tends to work well. It's good to have them. But I would want the Aussie Government to do everything possible to get its numbers for an adequate Defence Force from its own population. I think it's strange for a country to have to appeal to other countries for personnel support when we have so many people aged 17 - 35 not coming forward for Defence service.

I was referring more to people coming over serving more or less as a stepping stone to becoming an Aussie citizen, seperate from the exchange programme.

Bulldog,
we did that with ex kiwi airforce personnel. Most grabbed the money and beneits, did the minimum time then left for better paying civvie jobs.
So many people are leaving the ADF due to the high tempo of work and deployments and very little reward for it.
A aapt on the back will go only so far.
A sign of the times.

I ask because I am in the midst of the process right now to come on board the ADF. I figure its better to earn the citizenship rather than just doing a skills migration.

Bad idea.

Bulldogg, I think if you are a member of IM Forums then you should be welcome into the ADF with open arms, and I'll shout you a beer

Cheers Padre, second round is on me.

RAinf, why "bad idea"? I really would like any and all opinions on this.

I think it's strange for a country to have to appeal to other countries for personnel support when we have so many people aged 17 - 35 not coming forward for Defence service.

I don't know Padre, i think we have enough scots to form a foreign legion.

Hmm...recruiting foreign soldiers...it's an interesting concept.

I'm lukewarm about the idea. I'm not sure how exactly desperate the ADF is for numbers [it sounds like they are quite desperate at least], but I think recruiting PIs into the force would be a short-term, band-aid solution at best.

I think they have to address the reasons why numbers are falling in the ADF. They can't keep recruiting foreign soldiers. Sure, they've put out glossy TV ads and at one stage bombarded people with exhortions to join but I don't think that's enough.

Maybe, just maybe another reason why people don't want to join is because they have heard stories of abuse and harassment. I was reading a very recent RAAF newsletter where there was a call for soldiers to be more respectful towards each other [!] so it seems this problem is quite real and ingrained.

[Anyways, I'm still intending to join the RAAF - harassment or no harassment. Overt harassment is better than sutle harassment, IMO....but I digress].

I dislike the idea of recruiting foriegners...it just seems they won't have the patriotic sense of purpose a home boy would have. I don't know of course since I haven't been in the military yet. Anyone in the French Foriegn legion give some insight on this topic?