Three years until Army at pre-Covid strength as MIQ drives military resignations

Friday, 26 November 2021

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announces the original plan to reopen New Zealand to the world in 2022, in November. (First published November 24)

Hundreds of soldiers are leaving the military as the country’s top Army officer says it will be years before the service is back to its pre-Covid strength.

Fatigue with mundane, managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) duties is believed to be behind much of the increased attrition in the Army.

But the Chief of the Army, Major General John Boswell, said as those duties wind-up there will be an increased effort to attract and retain talent.

His comments came in an interview with Stuff days after forthright social media post from the most senior non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Major of Army Wiremu Moffitt.

* Covid-19: Hundreds of military staff need psychological checks after MIQ incidents

* Taranaki-raised father named Sergeant Major of the New Zealand Army

Moffitt asked troops to carefully consider any decision to release from their service early.

“It's disappointing to acknowledge the increasing number of people leaving our Army,” he said.

Soldiers have been serving as security at managed isolation and quarantine facilities.

“You are valued by Army and your teammates, and there is change in the wind. 2022 will be a revived year focussed on training, travel and regeneration.”

Like Moffitt, Boswell did not resile from the fact of increasing attrition in the ranks.

The Army had planned for an attrition rate of 8.6 percent this year.

“But it’s now up at about 10.6 per cent, and there are signs that it will increase before it starts to get better,” Boswell said.

“I don’t think we’ve seen the peak, I’m hoping it won’t get too much more above that 10.6 per cent.”

Defence figures show there have been 399 “voluntary exits” from the Army Regular Force in 2021 to October 31, compared to 347 in the whole of 2020.

But those figures and the attrition rates do not include the number of personnel who have put in their papers signalling an intention to leave early.

Chief of the Army, Major General John Boswell, said

A further 156 Army soldiers or officers have submitted an application for early release, as of October 31.

Do you know more? Email george.block@stuff.co.nz or SMS / Signal +64273041775

Operation Protect, the Defence contribution to the Government’s Covid-19 response, has seen soldiers serving as security at managed isolation hotels, among other roles including military nurses serving as medical support.

“It’s reduced our ability to train, it’s caused significant disruption to their families, as our personnel continue to be deployed away from home,” Boswell said.

“And the type of role being performed by soldiers is not why a lot of them joined the Army.”

Soldiers during a fire alarm at an Auckland MIQ facility.

In addition to fatigue with MIQ duties, soldiers and officers, particularly those in the communications, logistics, IT and engineering trades, were increasingly attractive to the private sector, where higher wages were on offer, he said.

Withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq meant there were also fewer opportunities for overseas deployments.

Boswell said the Army had “ring-fenced some of our key capabilities right from the get-go” meaning it would be able to mount a humanitarian assistance mission in the Pacific, or deploy special forces for missions like the recent evacuation of Kabul.

But larger-scale, longer deployments like Timor-Leste two decades ago would be more of a challenge.

“If we need to deploy an East Timor-like force, we would need to pull people out of Op Protect, we would need to provide them with some immediate training, and we’d need to get them-off shore.”

Supplying and sustaining that force would also be a challenge at present, he said.

“We’ve got that immediate ability, it’s that larger scale and sustainment force where we would be challenged at the moment.”

Boswell said it would be between two and three years before the Army can return to its pre-Covid strength at all levels across all its trades.

The Army was putting the finishing touches on a regeneration plan, with a focus on the individual, he said.

“There are other attractions to military service that don’t exist in the wider public or private sector.

“We've got to take advantage of every opportunity we can to get our people offshore on training exercises and courses, and we’ve got to make sure we get that social contract between our people and the organisation back to a level where they are taking pride in themselves in individuals and pride in the profession that they’re undertaking.

“We’re going to invest in our people again.”

The plan would try to ensure a balance between work and family, and insure they were paid appropriately, he said.

“I’m really proud of what our Army has done to support the nation’s Covid response effort and I take a great deal of satisfaction in the way that our people have stepped up to the task that they’ve been given.

“But the circumstances are changing, there’s a real opportunity for us now going forward as an army, and we’re determined to take it.”