The historian Parachute Regiment of the British Army, also known as the 'Paras', is in a serious personnel crisis. The British Ministry of Defence has offered £7,500 (around €8,800) to soldiers from other infantry units to join the Parachute Regiment. The unprecedented 'offer', if you want to call it that, was notified to the staff in an internal document seen by the DailyMail.
The document states that the scheme was implemented to fill the Parachute Regiment's manpower deficit with a 'one-off incentive'. The British Ministry of Defence has refused to publicly state how many troops the Parachute Regiment needs or whether such a method has been used in the past to 'incentivise' recruitment into the elite units.
Composed of 4 battalions, together with the Folgore is among the oldest military parachute units in the world. Founded between 1940 and 1942, it is spread over four battalions:
- 1st Battalion - St Athan (Special Forces)
- 2nd Battalion - Colchester
- 3rd Battalion - Colchester
- 4th Battalion - Pudsey
The 1st Battalion is permanently in the Special Forces Support Group, under the operational command of the British Special Forces. The other three battalions are part of the airborne component of the British Army's rapid reaction unit, the 16 Air Assault Brigade. They are the antechamber of the SAS, a bit like the 186° e 187th Folgore Regiment were for the 9th Regiment Col Moschin until the late 1990s.
The shortage of parachutists would also be felt in special forces units, as the Parachute Regiment provides the largest number of soldiers to the Special Air Service and to the Special Forces Support Group.
The situation has caused concern in the UK, a country historically close to its soldiers and armed forces. Former Defence Minister Mark Francois blamed the private contractor company Capita for the 'Paras' personnel crisis, accusing him of recruiting, for private use (a legal practice in the UK), personnel from the best regiments of the British army, Paratroopers above all.
The issue rekindles the spotlight on the problems of recruitment in the armies of western countries, a problem that also concerns Italy, and on possible solutions to stem the shortage of soldiers, including a return to compulsory conscription, we talked about it in this article.
It should be remembered that England was the first NATO country to abolish compulsory military service back in 1963, focusing on the creation of a professional-only army. The British armed forces are now faced with an entirely new and probably unexpected scenario.