THE CANADIAN PRESS -- TORONTO - War may be hell, but that didn't seem to deter tens of thousands of would-be soldiers who applied to join the ranks of the Canadian Forces over the course of Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan.Military statistics compiled over the past 10 years show that while regular and reserve forces were not always able to meet their enrolment targets for a given year, it was never because of a shortage of interested applicants.
As the death toll in Afghanistan mounted and the political rhetoric surrounding the mission grew more heated, the number of Canadian Forces applicants rose steadily, sometimes reaching levels twice those at the beginning of the mission.
In 2009-10, the Canadian Forces received 25,738 applications, up dramatically from the 2001-02 fiscal year, when applications numbered 13,504 — a figure that included existing soldiers seeking transfers to other units.
With the mission winding down, the Forces received 18,881 applications in 2010-11.
The extensive media coverage of military life in Afghanistan was a key factor in the surge, said Richard Langlois of the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group.
Infantry positions, which have historically been difficult to fill, got the biggest boost, Langlois said. Rather than act as a deterrent, the well-documented perils of life in theatre seemed to highlight the urgency and importance of the work being done.
"I think it certainly had an influence on people to see this is not a game, this is reality," Langlois said.
"Our soldiers are trained, they're prepared to do that. It's risky, yes it is, but people are proud to call themselves soldiers."
Although the military stopped tracking applicant numbers for a four-year stretch from fiscal 2005 through 2008, Langlois said the increase in applicants has been continuous for at least the past five or six years.
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Source: Huffington
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