CDF enlistment

Recruiting standards for Sober Thought's Community Defence Forces are designed not only to measure physical and mental fitness, although these are obviously important, but to measure political fitness as well.

There are some basic standards for all entrants into the armed forces, but these are rather low because they apply equally to gourmet chefs serving hors d'oeuvres the Combined Staff and expert commandos scaling cliffs under intense enemy small arms fire. Each branch and, in some cases, each unit will set concurrent standards its prospective members must meet. Note that these standards apply equally to volunteers in peacetime and wartime, and to conscripts in wartime.

Basic standards

Every applicant, whether male or female, must meet standards regarding:

1. Appropriate age
2. Physical fitness
3. Mental fitness
4. Commitment to the constitutional order.

War is not for children. Therefore, only those aged 18 are permitted to serve. With the permission of all guardians, those aged at least 17 are permitted to undergoing the screening and evaluation process so that their active enlistment may commence on or near the date upon which they achieve their majority. War is also not for the elderly. Therefore, age at initial enlistment is 35. While special exceptions are granted by the Combined Staff, these are typically for specialised and non-combattant fields. Age of service is subject to usual employment limitations, retirement may be compulsory at age 65 but it typically occurs a decade or two before that.

War is not for the physically incapacitated. Therefore, only those who pass a basic fitness test are permitted to serve. This requirement is usually pro forma for younger applicants, since it closely follows the standards set by secondary school's physical education requirements. Even those in their 20s and their early 30s, i.e., the vast bulk of first-time enlistees, will find it easy to meet unless they are truly sedentary or handicapped. The standards require a fair cardiovascular function, an ability to run sprints and long distances, a body mass index in the normal range and an average lung capacity. There are no height requirements, nor are those using common health aids like insulin injections, corrective lenses or hearing aids prohibited.

While these standards are moderate, they are inviolate. People who are physically disabled and cannot reach the bar are ineligible. Instead, they are encouraged to apply for other defence work in international aid or defence industries. People who become physical disabled while enlisted are not discharged. Instead, they are offered employment at static units, formations and headquarters which operate far from the battlefield and where physical limitations are unlikely to lead to their own deaths or those of their comrades. If no suitable employment can be found, the are given honourable discharges and (in addition to whatever disability benefits they may get) treated as if they completed their period of enlistment.

War is not for the mentally unsuitable so each applicant is screened for a host of mental disorders. Sociopaths, extreme narcissists and the delusional are rejected immediately. Again, if a serving defender becomes mentally ill, they are offered treatment and employment in an occupation where their illness is unlikely to interfere with operational requirements. Defenders who remain mentally ill are given discharges, benefits and pensions on the same basis as their physically ill and incapacitated colleagues.

Intellectual ability below the IQ of 90 is also an absolute bar to enlistment. While tests intended to measure learning ability are also administered during this battery, professional disagreement among psychometrists has prevented them from being used in a gatekeeping function instead of a prescriptive function.

War is not for the uncommitted. Therefore, each prospective defender must demonstrate (and, during their entire service in the military, maintain) a commitment to the constitutional order. This includes unreserved support for the human and civil rights and obligations contained in the Sober Thought Charter, as well as demonstrated understanding of what constitutes crimes against the state.

During peacetime, foreigners are not permitted to enlist. The rationale for this is clear: as Niccolo Machiavelli pointed out, a country which relies upon mercenaries will last only as long as it can outbid its enemies. The simplest definition of a mercenary is one who serves in another country's army. During wartime, legally resident foreigners (especially those who are in the process of naturalisation) may be compelled to enlist, with the rationale that those living under the protection of a country have the obligation to serve it when it is under attack.

Enlistment periods

The CDF seek to invest in human capital, and the best human capital is provided by truly voluntary and self-motivated labour. Therefore, the forces use no recruitment tricks, disingenuous inducements or hidden military obligations. Instead, there is a straightforward and transparent contract which rewards those with a greater commitment to the CDF with a greater commitment by the CDF. Below is a forces-wide chart listing peacetime enlistment periods with forces' benefits:

Years means contractual years of enlistment in active service; there is no additional reserve or CDF Civil Guard obligation, although a significant minority of honourably discharged soldiers do in fact enlist in the part-time provincial militia. Cumulative branch indicates in which branches of service one may serve, with longer enlistees being eligible for all branches open to those with shorter enlistments. Education means internal qualifying courses (the Qs) established for each rank, as well as tertiary education certified by the Vice Ministry of Education. Pension means the percentage of salary a qualifying person will draw between age 65 and death.

Closed term enlistments of periods longer than 20 years are not permitted. Those wanting to serve past 20 years apply to do so year to year, and get 1% more pension for each such year served. Thus, pensions of greater than 100% are possible. To a lesser extent, this is also the incentive structure for those serving 10 or more years (especially if enlisting in their latter 20s or 30s). The highest rank, Grand Marshal, is reserved in peacetime for these year-to-year enlistees.

Reenlistments separated by less than six months are considered uninterrupted service; those separated by six months or more are considered fresh enlistments and the clock is reset. Soldiers may attempt to reach a cumulative long-term enlistment by a series two year hitches, but they must requalify at every reenlistment and may be turned away for any reason.

Soldiers who are unable or unwilling to complete their enlistment periods drop down to the next lowest class that applies, and must return the full cost of their education benefits before discharge. This may involve trading pension credits for cash, or acquiring an education debt similar to a market rate mortgage (contrasting with a civilian student loan program which is modelled on low-cost mortgages).

Unlike the RL United States, which has an "upward or out" policy, there is no maximum period of enlistment for a specific rank. Soldiers may, and often do, spend long periods in a single rank doing work that gives them the greatest personal and professional satisfaction. The goal of the U.S. policy is to weed out the unproductive and unambitious, the former of which Sober Thought agrees with. However, the CDF achieve this goal by carrots rather than sticks. The incentive structure of the pensions rewards those who leave after 10 years, helping ensure that longer serving members have no financial incentive to remain in the CDF but do so out of professional and social commitment only.

In wartime, soldiers are promoted strictly on the basis of operational requirements and the candidate's demonstrated abilities. When peace is concluded, soldiers who have advanced beyond their class retain or acquire the class benefits. They are not required to fulfill their class service obligations, but should they decline to do so, futher advancement is prohibited.

Branch and occupational standards

Beyond the basic standards, each branch, subbranch, type, military occupation and unit may apply its own. These are not arbitrary, and must be vetted by the Chief of the Land Staff, Naval Staff or Air Staff as applicable. While discrimination on the basis of physical and mental abilities is necessarily part of these benchmarks, discrimination on the basis of sex is not. Anybody -- whether among the senior staff people, training cadre or recruits -- who demonstrates any gender-based prejudice prohibited by the Sober Thought Charter is subjected to severe punishment up to an including dishonourable discharge.

For instance, the combat arms of infantry, armour and combat engineering have much more stringent physical standards because the demonstrated need for these skills. Consequently, women comprise only about one or two percent of those enrolled in these military occupations. The Naval Weapons Branch requires fewer such physical skills and more mental skills, so women represent about ten percent of the naval gunners. Air combat arms like pilot and air weapons offer even greater opportunities, so women comprise about a quarter of the fliers in these fields.

In contrast, the tri-service arm of health has no higher physical standards than the CDF as a whole, but much higher intellectual standards. Women represent about half of this branch, and three quarters of the officers in it. Other non-combattant arms in service support like transport, supply and maintenance engineering have somewhat higher physical standards, and women fill more than a third of the positions there.

Between these two extremes, there are the combat support arms like civil engineering, artillery and military police. Women achieve a penetration of about ten percent in these occupations, somewhat more overrepresented among the officers there. This is because a commissioned civil engineer who designs buildings needs no special physical abilities while a non-commissioned civil engineer who builds buildings may need to possess greater physical abilities, depending on the specific construction trade.

To give an overall picture of women in the armed forces, consider three typical units representing the mode of units in each of the CDF's three services:

• an infantry battalion of 625 all ranks, including 61 women: 8 infanteers (including a sniper team), 15 medics (including the unit medical officer), 15 clerks, 12 warehousers and 11 mechanics. This represents the forces-wide penetration of women in many RL forces like Canada and the United States.
• a frigate of 220 all ranks including 31 women: 7 bridge crew, 8 naval weapons specialists, 9 mechanics and 7 aircrew (including one pilot). This represents a greater percentage that any RL navy as a whole, and roughly double a typical RL navy afloat percentage.
• a fighter squadron of 180 all ranks including 54 women: 6 aircrew (including a flight commanding officer), 25 mechanics and 23 logisticans. This represents more than double a typical RL air force as a whole, and quadruple a typical RL air force fighting unit.

Such impressive strides in gender neutral employment would not have been possible without maintaining physical standards, having a gender blind promotion policy, focusing on the skills truly necessary for a job and rooting out anti-woman bias. Legitimate reluctance from serving men is eliminated by the former three, and illegitimate reluctance by the latter one. Furthermore, an anti-woman backlash fuelled or masked by legitimate concerns has been avoided, so women have no disincentive to join and exactly the same incentives to join as men. There is no women's division or women's corps, they serve on an equal footing with men who have met exactly the same standards.

There will never be gender parity in the armed forces for a variety of reasons, among them childbirth, persistent (if fading) belief that femininity and military service are inconsistent and a greater reluctance to serve long periods away from home. However, enlightened and enlightenedly selfish policies of the CDF ensure the greatest equality of opportunity and hence the most equal sex ratio sensibly achievable during peacetime, while at the same time acquiring the best soldiers available.