Army sapped by Covid as MIQ drives resignations

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 preCovid strength.

Fatigue with mundane managed isolation and quarantine duties is believed to be behind much of the increased attrition in the New Zealand Army.

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

His comments came days after a social media post from the most senior non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Major of Army Wiremu Moffitt. He asked troops to carefully consider any decision to seek early release from their service.

‘‘It is disappointing to acknowledge the increasing number of people leaving our army . . . There is change in the wind. 2022 will be a revived year focused on training, travel and regeneration.’’

Like Moffitt, Boswell did not resile from the fact there is increased attrition in the ranks. The army had planned for an attrition rate of 8.6 per cent this year. ‘‘But it is 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 have seen the peak. I am hoping it won’t get too much more above that 10.6 per cent.’’

New Zealand Defence Force figures show there have been 399 ‘‘voluntary exits’’ from the Army Regular Force in 2021 to October 31, compared with 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.

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

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 has reduced our ability to train; it has 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.’’

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 ‘‘ringfenced some of our key capabilities right from the getgo’’, 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 would be more of a challenge. Boswell said it would be between two and three years before the army could 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.

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