New Zealand Defence Force Attrition Reaches Chronic Levels
March 10: This article looks at the growing attrition crisis in the New Zealand military.
In information released to The Wigram, The New Zealand Defence force has revealed the depths of the attrition crisis amongst its regular force.
Pictured and below: A Vietnam war veterans march in Christchurch in November 2022
According to statistics released by Air Commodore AJ Woods to The Wigram, by the end of 2022, the Navy’s attrition rate had climbed to 16.7%; the Army’s up to 17.7% before plateauing; while the Airforce’s rate last year had peaked and tailed off at 11.5%.
In real terms, Woods confirmed the personnel numbers at a 31 December 2022 as (* figures in 2020 in brackets):
Navy 2,143 (2,268)
Army 4,291 (4,637)
Airforce 2,396 (2,542)
NZDF figures also show that since the 2017/2018 financial year, recruitment numbers in all ranks have steadily declined in both the Navy and Army.
Since 2020, and with the emergence of COVID-19, the New Zealand Defence Force personnel numbers have nose dived. During the epidemic, and with border closures, Operation Protect saw new army recruits man Quarantine facilities that held passengers for mandatory isolation and virus detection.
A former defence force recruit said this wasn’t why he had joined the military. He explained that he and hundreds of others left the military, many of them going to the University of Canterbury after serving in the quarantine facilities. The impact of family separation was also felt.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The New Zealand Reporter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.