People's attitude toward the armed forces as a career down here, has had a huge effect on recruitment. I have been asked many times "Why are you in the Air Force, couldn't you get a proper job?" There are still folks who want to join but it's not widely viewed as a mainstream choice. Other than some impressive advertising campaigns, I'm not sure there's much more to be done that will improve recruitment. Shame really as the Navy has some quite decent kit these days.