Monday 15 June 2009

SAS recruitment shortfall

Whilst recruitment and retention within the Armed Forces is generally picking up, the number of soldiers applying to join the Special Air Service has dropped alarmingly - by more than a third. In a normal year there are about 150 applicants for the SAS of whom 10% are eventually successful; this year only 93 applied with only 8 getting through.
A source told the Sunday Mirror that during peacetime the SAS is seen as an atrractive option for those looking for excitment. Nowadays however with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers in regular regiments are experiencing fighting on the frontline and therefore do not need to look to the SAS for action.
The fall-off in the in-take and the recent high casualty rate are putting a strain on the Regiment and forcing Army chiefs to look at ways of improving retention - perhaps even upping the pay: who stays gains.

The Mirror: SAS recruitment crisis as applications plummet