Army volunteers on reserve urged

Press, 9 April 1977, Page 2

Army volunteers on reserve urged

Young men joining the New Zealand Army as Territorial Force volunteers should have some reserve obligations, according to the commander of the 3rd Brigade Group (Brigadier L. W. Wright) in Christchurch yesterday, i At present, a volunteer can enlist, do his 12 weeks basic training, and then get] out with no further obligation to the Army — and there was nothing the service could do about it, Brigadier Wright said. While believing the scneme had much to commend it. he thought it could be improved if some form ofset period of service oblig- 1 , ation was part and parcel of a volunteer’s enlistment. The introduction of such, an obligation, he said, would contribute to the retention' rate of the volunteers — the steady loss of whom had al-'

ready come in for considerable criticism recently by< other senior military meh. Unless such an obligation was brought into effect, Brigadier Wright said, he did • not see any improvement in, the retention rate occurring or of the Army obtaining real value for money. Brigadier Wright, who will '■ retire next month after 36' Iyears in the Army, said he did not consider the present problems facing the service to be insurmountable. In recent years, he said, he had noticed a major change in the Army’s character, which had started with the latter years of compulsory military training,; through the transition to national service, and the retirement of a large core of : officers with wartime ex-; perience. While the service was generally in good heart, ,what was needed today was; an Army made up of dedi-; cated people. For too many, ,it had simply become a ‘9 °2£ u P at ’ on - This, he

said, v.as an attitude riot; ‘confined to the military. ; Today’s Army was a far! cry from ’’Old Bill’s Army i of the 19405.” “No longer is it a case of! .telling soldiers to do as 1! say because a greater pro-1 portion of them are consid- j erably better educated than they were in the. past. Management of men is far more important .now than it ever was in the old days," Brigadier Wright said. Asked what he thought of the introduction of the ■ "open-ended” engagement policy for New Zealand's I armed services, Brigadier Wright said be personally .was not “sold” on the idea but it was too early to say what its true effect was. Brigadier Wright, who has been commander of the 3rd Brigade Group since Septem- ; ber, 1973, will retire on May , 10. ;; Soon after, he will take [up the post of personnel and ■training officer with the Canterbury Frozen Meat ; Company, Ltd. _____