Posted on 05/10/2006 10:22:04 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
THE nation's defence chief has endorsed plans to recruit older Australians into the military.
But Defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston today said there would be no over-55 infantrymen in frontline units.
The proposal to raise the recruitment age is among a range of measures flagged today by Defence Minister Brendan Nelson as the Australian Defence Force struggles to attract and retain personnel.
Air Chief Marshal Houston tody said the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) employed many over-55s in specialist areas and the reserve case by case.
The time was right to consider lifting the retirement age of 55 across the services, he said.
"Yes, we should look at that and look at that in my view in a favourable way," he said.
"Right now in the air force, reservists can go through to 65 in particular specialist areas. It is a question of really getting the right balance."
But Air Chief Marshal Houston said combat positions should remain restricted to younger people because of the high fitness requirements.
"It really is a young man's game and older people have a great deal of difficulty maintaining the very high fitness standards that are required to prevail in the likely combat environment," he said.
Other measures under consideration to raise recruitment levels include relaxing some medical requirements and not automatically rejecting those who admit using illegal drugs.
Dr Nelson said there were a variety of desk jobs and roles in logistic support, medical, nursing, legal, educational and language services that could be filled by older personnel.
"We are not talking about special forces," he said.
"We are not talking about putting people into submarines or sending them on 20km marches with backpacks.
"In terms of logistics, administrative, legal and a variety of other support programs, it is one of the things we need to be looking at.
"In a country where constantly and quite rightly we are telling Australians that they should think about working longer, why should we leave the ADF out of that.
"We know that people of mature age are more likely to stay with the same employer for a longer period of time, to show loyalty to that employer. There are variety of tasks that can be undertaken in the ADF by people in their 50s."
Polishing my jack boots now.
may the USA soon follow suit !
and hurry! we are getting older day by day !
The headline is misleading; lol, my first thought was what kind of vehicle was he driving to back over fifty people in one fell swoop.
LOL! I did a double-take on that one myself.
the idea is simple--free up younger able-bodied soldiers to actually fight, rather than do desk jobs that compotent older personnel can easily fill, but couldn't necessarily be up to fighting trim..
I met some of the Australian Navy people when I was in Guam a few years back. They are already doing this sort of thing--one woman I met was in her late forties, already had three children, and enlisted with her husband's blessing (She was a supply type). She told me that many people her age who are in the Australian Navy are people who had always wanted to be soldiers or sailors, but for one reason or another never joined. She also told me that they are filling up slots that younger people can't or won't take, because of inflated expectations, body fat, prior drug use, etc.
When I first read the title, I missed the hyphen and thought the Defence chief was a terrible driver.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.