CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
PROLONGATION AND WASTAGE
The Royal Navy and Royal Marines
15.
The numbers who leave the Service in their early years is
disturbingly high. However, the proportion of those with longer
service who choose to prolong their engagements remains encouraging
and at the nine year point some 55 per cent of the Royal Navy and 45 per cent of the Moyal Marines re-engaged in the first six months of 1974-5.
Army
16.
Prolongation rates except at the three year point have not changed
appreciably in the Army. The decline in the three year rate results
partly from the exits of young entrants who exercised the option
to shorten their engagement at the age of 18. A steady rise in the
proportion of recruits choosing the minimum commitment of three years'
service and the high rates of recruit and trained soldier wastage
give cause for concern.
Royal Air Force
17. The planned reduction in trained manpower mentioned in Chapter V
of the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1973 (Cmnd 5231) was
achieved by normal wastage and a small voluntary redundancy scheme.
The rate of prolongation of non-pensionable engagements has shown
little change and has been satisfactory in most ground trades.
The objective is to limit the recruiting and training task
by prolonging the average length of service; the re-introduction of
the 15-year engagement has proved a useful addition to the range of
non-pensionable engagements open to ground tradesmen. To maintain
an acceptable age and rank pattern in the ground trades, pensionable
engagements continue to be controlled.
V-7
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL