The military is an important element of pride in most modern nations. They earmark large portions of every national budget, protect the people, and safeguard a nation's boundaries. Many countries require military or civic service as an important step in developing national pride and giving back to the nation. So why is Australia recruiting British service personnel earmarked for redundancy?

The British daily The Independent reports that this is a consequence of Britain facing severe cut backs in it's spending. The military is just one of the areas that is being down sized with around 5,000 Royal Navy employees facing redundancy. This eight percent cut in the defence budget is expected to bring an estimated savings of 5 billion pounds. On the other hand, Australia's armed forces is struggling to maintain adequate staffing. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is in particularly desperate need of engineers, with additional shortcomings in special forces officers, fighter pilots and submarine crews. Voila! A match between supply and demand.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is offering a fast-track path to citizenship with these open positions. The offer is also available to citizens of the US, Canada and New Zealand and guarantees an Australian passport within three months of an overseas recruit being granted permanent residency. (The usual wait time for permanent residents is two years). The ADF is looking for "serving or ex-serving foreign military personnel who can directly transfer their job and life skills to whichever service they join with limited training and preparation".

If that sounds like you and you want to suit up for Australia, apply at http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/.

Recommended Partners