http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/royal-navy-and-raf-may-have-to-borrow-personnel-from-france-a6693096.html
Looks like Boney may yet win.
The should just go back to press gangs.
Thatcher is doing backflips in her grave.
Wouldn't the English-speaking colonies be a better source? Less language barrier.
I'm unclear as to why they can't actually recruit within the UK. Particularly when the RN probably has the lowest level of combatant vessels in it's history.
Yeah, Bes' article didn't give me a solid reason as to why they're struggling. It almost sounded like budgetary issues, but I can't see how recruiting the French would help.
Maybe it's a shortage of rum, sodomy, and lashes?
Quote from: LongBlade on October 14, 2015, 11:17:25 AM
Maybe it's a shortage of rum, sodomy, and lashes?
Well they're not going to get many French then either.
Quote from: mirth on October 14, 2015, 11:19:50 AM
Quote from: LongBlade on October 14, 2015, 11:17:25 AM
Maybe it's a shortage of rum, sodomy, and lashes?
Well they're not going to get many French then either.
we were relying on Star to head up the recruitment drive - guess thats out of the frikking window ::)
Quote from: mirth on October 14, 2015, 11:12:00 AM
I'm unclear as to why they can't actually recruit within the UK. Particularly when the RN probably has the lowest level of combatant vessels in it's history.
I suspect, if actually true, that it is a combination of factors. Perhaps the staffing end of the RN didn't get its needed numbers communicated to the recruiting side of the RN. Or the RN was forced to accept lower numbers because of the overall budget, so the staffing numbers were denied. Combine that with higher academic recruiting standards and lower birth rates, and voilà, the perfect storm!
SACRE BLEU!!!
Apparently they're having a major problem finding engineers and not just for the RN.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/558112/Royal-Navy-Recruit-Overseas-Skills-Shortage (http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/558112/Royal-Navy-Recruit-Overseas-Skills-Shortage)
QuoteAccording to Engineering UK, Britain needs to recruit 1.8 million engineers by 2022 in order just to "stand still". However, of the 600,000 16-year-olds currently taking both Maths and Science at GSCE level every year, only 7,000 actually become engineers after university.
^We have that same exact problem over here in the US.
Quote from: Gusington on October 14, 2015, 12:06:09 PM
^We have that same exact problem over here in the US.
Yeah, it is everywhere. Usually, when we get engineers, they're the ones that graduated with a D+ or C- average. The good ones get good paying jobs where they don't have to march or leave their families for months at a time.
India and China don't have a problem getting engineers.
Quote from: Gusington on October 14, 2015, 12:28:17 PM
India and China don't have a problem getting engineers.
And we steal half of them away!
Seriously, in those countries you can beat math into kids. In the west, one can't beat kids.
In Soviet Russia kids beat you!
Can't get Engineers? Are there that many trains running anymore? Why the hell can't the Conductors help out? ^-^
I believe it's a byproduct of an educational system that has no focus on math and science and has been totally given over to political propaganda. We've done it to ourselves. I'll take care of teaching my kids morality. The damned school just needs to focus on math, science, (non-revisionist) history and civics, and grammar. And no common core is not the answer. It's a damned travesty of an experiment that will end up stunting students even more.
Meanwhile here in the USA, the navy has gone back to teaching navy cadets how to navigate by the stars in case their GPS systems are hacked. But they can't say, "Sextant" anymore. Might be offensive to Anti-Sexuals so it's now called a "Hand-held Sailing Assistance Support Device". They now cost $700,000 apiece.
Recruiting enough engineers has always been a concern. Just check the curriculum at the Naval Academy.
Let me tell you, spherical trigonometry will kill you.
Regular trig almost killed me!
I still have nightmares of Grade 12 math class.
Calc is what did me in. Ouch.
Quote from: mirth on October 15, 2015, 09:38:24 AM
Calc is what did me in. Ouch.
I got tripped-up when they started mixing letters and numbers!! :buck2: :uglystupid2:
I took a symbolic logic class in the philosophy department that counted as a math class in college O0
Quote from: bayonetbrant on October 15, 2015, 10:10:54 AM
I took a symbolic logic class in the philosophy department that counted as a math class in college O0
And now we know why the GH front page is largely symbolic
I'm so old, math class for me had an abacus. Try doing Trigonometry on one of those.
Quote from: Sir Slash on October 14, 2015, 10:29:54 PM
Meanwhile here in the USA, the navy has gone back to teaching navy cadets how to navigate by the stars in case their GPS systems are hacked. But they can't say, "Sextant" anymore. Might be offensive to Anti-Sexuals so it's now called a "Hand-held Sailing Assistance Support Device". They now cost $700,000 apiece.
"Hand-held Sailing Assistance Support Device", huh. So that's what they're calling it now... ^-^
Quote from: bayonetbrant on October 15, 2015, 10:10:54 AM
I took a symbolic logic class in the philosophy department that counted as a math class in college O0
I took Formal Logic- that was pure torture. There has never been a time in my life that I have ever seriously tried to understand something but failed to, until that class. I remember attending office hours with the professor and he just explained it over and over. I simply got to a point in the class where I hit a wall.
Quote from: Centurion40 on October 14, 2015, 12:45:01 PM
Quote from: Gusington on October 14, 2015, 12:28:17 PM
India and China don't have a problem getting engineers.
And we steal half of them away!
Seriously, in those countries you can beat math into kids. In the west, one can't beat kids.
Half of those we get are over rated. Too many US managers think if an engineer from India or China they can do no wrong.