Economic boom takes toll of the Army's ranks

New Zealand's booming economy is good for business, but the Army's ranks are taking a hammering.

Linton's new 2 Land Force Group Commander Colonel Lofty Hayward says the Army is losing skilled soldiers to businesses seeking staff.

"The issue is that our economy is very strong at the moment, so there are plenty of employment opportunities just outside of the Army that are better paying."

The Manawatu-Wanganui region is experiencing the second-biggest increase in economic activity in the country, and New Zealand's unemployment rate, at 3.6 per cent, is the lowest in the developed world and the lowest since the present system for measuring unemployment began.

Col Hayward said the loss of Army personnel was about 18 per cent a year, which was equivalent to a rotation of the Army every five years.

The base was under a bit of stress from the personnel losses, he said.

The shortage of skilled tradespeople meant soldiers at Linton were being head-hunted for jobs.

"We are a source of skilled personnel for outside the Army. It has to be good for New Zealand as a whole. We train people up, we try to hold them, and we keep a percentage.

"But we recognise there are some people who are going to go off and do other things."

But Linton had not run out of skilled tradespeople, he said.

"The ones we are more concerned about is the combat trades. They are the ones being looked at for going overseas. That's where the big money is."

Col Hayward said former soldiers were going to Kuwait and from there into Iraq to work with security companies. A smaller number were working in Afghanistan.

Last December, the Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson, said the Defence Force could not compete with extremely high pay rates offered to people to work in strife-torn countries.

Col Hayward said a large percentage of those leaving the Army were junior non-commissioned officers.

"These are the junior leaders. They are the ones who have been in the Army, say, three, five, or six years. They are the ones who are looking at other options.

"A good number of them are going overseas."

Replacing that group was not a short-term task, he said.

"There has been a recognition that we do have to work very hard on actively competing to keep our people, as opposed to just letting them walk out the door."

Col Hayward said he was putting measures in place to try to retain soldiers.

"You have to put a whole series of things in place in terms of training structure.

"I think it's important to create an environment where people's training is focused, people understand what they need to do, the standard expected of them and enjoy coming to work.

"We are trying to make people understand why they joined the Army in the first place."

- NZPA