The Well is Running Dry

When it comes to maintaining a strong Naval Reserve, we must apply that old adage-know your history or you are bound to repeat your mistakes. As a former Naval Reserve commanding officer, I am concerned about our inability to learn from our past experience in recruiting Naval Reserve officers and non-commissioned members (NCMs). During the early years of WWII, the Navy had no reserve officer training program and found itself desperately short of officers. Today, many Naval Reserve Units (NRUs) have upward of a dozen or more empty officer billets and are finding it more and more difficult to recruit NCMs. This does not give credence to the RCNR's motto of "Ready Aye Ready." Only those who have had a long association with the Naval Reserve may be able to identify how our present crisis came about and alert those in control of the military system so that they can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

The University Naval Training Division (UNTD), was created in 1942 as a wartime pilot project at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph. The brainchild of university professor, A. W. (Jack) Baker, it was intended to be an important recruiting arm of the Navy in our nation's universities. Under the auspices of LCdr. McFetrick, the Commanding Officer of the local NRU, HMCS Star, the OAC program proved successful. With the blessing of Capt. Brock, Commanding Officer Reserve Divisions, UNTD training spread to every university campus in Canada. For the first time the Navy, in an ever-expanding technological world, had its foot in the door of the country's brain trusts. It wasn't long before the officer billets of our NRUs, and some regular force positions, were being filled by graduates of this program. Between 1943 and 1968, some six thousand university students passed through the UNTD program. If nothing else, it was important for the constituency that members and ex-members of the UNTD provided to the Navy in the cities, towns and universities across the nation. Eventually, in the fullness of time, the commanding officers of most NRUs were the product of UNTD training.

Unfortunately, sweeping changes were brought about in 1968 when Defence Minister Hellyer introduced the Canadian Forces Reorganization Act. No one could tell then what far reaching effects all this would have on the Naval Reserve. Like so many other Navy institutions, the UNTD disappeared as an identifiable officer training plan. The position of Staff Officer UNTD was eliminated and recruiting offices on every university campus across the country were closed. That vital link with all university students and the country's brain trusts was lost.

A very modified officer training program, with greatly reduced numbers, replaced the UNTD. Given the convoluted title of Naval Reserve Officer University Training Program (NROUTP), it didn't take long for this awkward designation to become NROC, Naval Reserve Officer Cadet. It applied to both men and women and they wore the universal green uniform of the Canadian Forces. All Naval Reserve commanding officers found that because of low recruiting quotas, the supply of NROCs did not meet the demand. Furthermore, because there was no longer a direct connection with universities, recruiting of NROCs came from within the unit, that is to say, the naval divisions were feeding upon themselves. To prevent this, recruiting policies have recently been changed to inhibit the recruiting of NROCs from the ranks of NCMs or non-commissioned members. The result of that decision is that high school students are discouraged from joining the Naval Reserve if they plan on going to university and may want to become officer cadets. But how will they know unless they have had some exposure to life at sea? Anyone in an NRU will tell you that the best officer candidates come from those who have had a year's experience in the lower deck and know what to expect from navy life.

All of this has come at a time when NRUs have taken on the added responsibilities of manning the new Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels. The fact that twelve new MCDVs came on stream in a relatively short period of time has not helped in the manning requirements. Most of the older reserve officers and NCMs who were Gate Vessel qualified, needed to re-qualify to operate the new vessels. Unfortunately, as we have experienced in the past, these are the personnel whose family life and careers afford them the least available time to train on new equipment. Consequently it is the younger officers and NCMs who have to be relied upon to operate the new vessels, and as we have already shown, this resource is dwindling. To compound the problem, the number of personnel taking summer training has seen a steady decline since 1994. Records show that the number of NATRAPs completed has fallen by as much as 60%. Much of this can be attributed to budget restraints, especially in 1997, which have given the Navy a reputation as a poor employer. Once students, who rely on their summer jobs to pay for their ever-increasing educational expenses, see the Navy as an unreliable source of income, hopes of recruiting new people simply die. Recruiting is in such dire straits now, that each NRU has hired a full time recruiter, but to no avail. As we all know, the best recruiter is word of mouth and the referrals to family and friends, are not happening. The poor image of the Canadian Armed Forces in the press in recent years has also been a discouraging factor.

It appears that Mr. Hellyer's legacy and that of the present government, has been to make the Canadian Forces a political football with little empathy for the economic and career requirements of reserve personnel. The end product of Hellyer's streamlining policies has been a serious shortage of Naval Reserve officers as well as NCMs. Naval divisions retired the last of the original UNTDs a few years ago. Unable to sustain their own officer ranks, they are now having to recycle commanding officers and "parachute in" regular force officers to command NRUs. Recruiting officers are looking for a way to re-establish recruiting ties with universities without a wartime setting as in 1942, that is unlikely to happen. One possible solution might have been to recruit a surplus of NCMs to make allowances for those who re-mustered as officer cadets, should they choose to enter university. However, with the present government's tight budgets, severe quota restrictions, and the general apathy of today's youth towards the armed forces, that too is unlikely to happen. Thus the growing lack of Naval Reserve officers and NMCs will continue in a tight downward spiral.

Alarm bells should be ringing as misguided and short-sighted policies for recruiting and retention in the armed forces are proving to be harmful both in the short and long terms.

Bob Williamson is a former Naval Reserve commanding officer who entered through the UNTD and retired in 1992. He is the current editor of the UNTD Association of Upper Canada Newsletter and has published several books including "HMCS Star, a Naval Reserve History" and "UNTiDy Tales" a history of the UNTD. You can visit the new UNTD web site at www.untd.org

(Originally Published in Vol. VII, No. 8, Autumn 1999 issue of Starshell)