Cassidy, Laureen (SEN)
From:	gslad [gslad@iprimus.com.au]
Sent:	Wednesday, 2 May 2001 2:17 PM
To:	fadt.sen@aph.gov.au
Subject:	Inquiry into Recruitment
Dear Sir/Madam
 
With great interest I wish to comment on the current inquiry into Recruitment and Retention of Defence Personnel my personal particulars in relation to the defense force are as follows -
 
Name- Guy Sladden Wieland
Army No- 553075
Service period- 9 years 1979-1988
 
Retention of Defense Personnel- Often defense personnel during their service years have a "grass being greener on the other side mentality" in reference to life out side the defence force due to a possible number of factors sum of which are- 

•	 defence personnel being young and inexperienced when enlisting leading to a belief in "wanting to get out" to experience life on the outside not understanding that what they are leaving behind is a great career with many outstanding opportunities. 
•	the belief that upon entering civilian life that you will cease to "answer" to a command structure which in reality is quite the opposite when you consider that self employed persons are answerable to there business and customers, and employed staff are still answerable to forms of command structures wielding dismissal or retention powers. 
•	during my service period there was never any feed back or education on promotion in other fields of operations defence force personnel could persue within the 3 areas of defence (army, navy, airforce) 
•	I would have most definetly stayed with the Army had I been told of the pay review that came into effect 12 months after I was discharged which effectivly took my pay from $28500 to $42000 ( S.A.S trooper) pay conditions were of constant concern in relation to hours worked. 
•	Retention benifits offered were eroded by time and did not keep up with the current consumer price index/inflationary factors such as housing allowance. 
•	no education was given to staff to compare their defense trade/position to civillian position in relation to pay, conditions and "job satisfaction" the last in comparison to the majority of mundane civillan positions compaired to the variety offered by defense life.

Recruitment-
 
    I personally enjoy the current advertising and I certainly think its very relative and realistic but recruitment might be adversly affected by the following-

•	media reporting of war issues that are current and thought provoking, to those intending to join the defense service this possibly brings home the reality check that joining the defence force means you will go to armed conflict if required, whereby in the past the defense force was just seen as a "job" 
•	the rapidly changing face of Australian society, not until the Hawke goverment had Multi-culturalism been the massive change it now currently is. Australia only has a population of @19 million people with a naturally decreasing anglo-saxon race, the typical immigration trend of 100  thousand plus migrants, now from very different cultures, compaired to 1980's and before has had a very profound impact on the Australian population. Has there been any study to show how long it takes before arriving migrants view Australia as more than an economic base. Current attitude to allow very diverse cultural backgrounds is entering Australia and its future into "unchartered waters".

Thankyou for your time 
 
Guy Sladden Wieland