Interest Shown In Army Scheme

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30978, 7 February 1966, Page 10

Interest Shown In Army Scheme

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, February 6. Army Headquarters in Wellington has received encouraging reports about initial interest in the two-year regular engagement recently offered to trained territorial soldiers.

But recruiting officers say that the rate of recruiting generally was inadequate, mainly through misconceptions about the Army. The Director of Army Recruiting, (Lieutenant-Colonel H. L. Jones), said that the Army had high hopes that a good number would enlist for regular service. Priority needs in the Regular Army were 400 infantrymen and up to 100 gunners. The Army’s strength was now 5400 target strength was 6250. The scheme, announced at the end of last year, was only a facet of recruiting, said Colonel Jones. “General recruitment out-

side the Army will continue to provide the bulk of regular recruits,” he said. Better Response This year’s response to recruiting was better than that last year, but the rate was still inadequate. “Eight - four applications are being processed for January,” he said. “Applications in January, 1965, numbered 50. “The Army wants these men now and during the next few months to ensure the supply of replacements for Ist Battalion, R.N.Z.1.R., in Malaysia, and 161 Battery, R.N. in Vietnam. “Staffs at Army offices are geared to get men into camp as soon as they show they are ready. We need 200 applications a month if, after normal wastage for medical and other reasons, the Army is

to reach its target for the year.” Wrong Belief The main obstacle to recruiting was the widespread belief that the Regular Army had some private source of manpower in peace and that the youth of the country was not needed till a war emergency arose. “The Army’s source of manpower remains New Zealand’s youth of military age?’ Colonel Jones said. “These men are needed now and in a continuous flow so long as New Zealand shares the defence burden in South-east Asia.”