Good stuff, thanks. Any possibilities of further Boxers or F-35s?
The F-35 fleet was already expanded from 37 to 52, more is not going to happen because the number of airbases is limited and building any more on a country the size of a postage stamp is not going to happen except for under wartime legislation.
What would be the point of buying more Boxers when the current brigades can't be fully staffed?
The armed forces have ~8,000 jobs that aren't being done out of a total of ~40,000. Except for the reintroduction of conscription that isn't going to change. Ships are laid up as well because the crews just aren't there.
A new voluntary service year pilot like the Swedes have started out with a class of 136 students of which 126 finished and 102 of them signed contracts to be either active duty, reservist or civilian employee (1). There were several hundred applicants.
54 active army, 18 army reserve, 9 to the airforce, 5 to the MPs as well as 12 to the navy, 8 as sailors, 3 reservists and one as a civilian employee.
The program is being expanded to 500-600 candidates next year with over 3,000 applicants already.
@Musashi ; the -willing to serve-rate increased from 15% in early 2023 to 34% in early 2024, though no one knows what caused that shift. Might be more accurate polling I think ... IIRC the previous poll included all ages, so the rich flower power/"broken rifle"/NO to ICBMs!/one-sided disarmament generation may have been the majority of people polled, as they usually are in polls, skewing the numbers.
Polling only people aged 18-40 as it is the only relevant demographic would make more sense and I don't remember the exact numbers, but the figure among women was abysmal even in this age group.
But they want to be equal right? When they turn 18 and get their deferred draft notice in the mail all of a sudden reality hits them in the face? And they want to be
mostly equal?
so why bother?
