I would heartily recommend a deep breath and step back. At the beginning of Aug there were circa 100 people in the hold pool. With courses fishing some out and the ramping up of recruitment, there was a modest increase of the hold pool up to around 150 by end of Sep.
Even if the figures above vary by +- 20%, it would mean that recruitment still has to occur to fill the required vacancies, so talk of anyone in the hold pool being unfortunate is perhaps premature at best.
To emphasise the positives, there are courses for TR and non-TR folk occurring and indeed programmed for the forseeable.
I entered the pool in Aug and have been warned that a start date in Q2 2012 is on the cards. This merely shows that the guys running recruitment have a grip on numbers and courses.
IMHO, to meet the revised recruitment targets would mean a cessation of recruitment when the target is hit, not a continuance with those already having passed interview and the sim cx remaining swimming until the 12 month elapses. That would be a colossal waste of money.
Well done and chin up to all the swimmers and to those in the application process - stick with it until someone of authority states the game is up.