That would surely depend on their period of domicile in the UK? ;)

"Please don't deploy me, I need the time in UK to qualify!"

to add ... I have no fundamental difficulty with the concept. The idea of being "British" has long since gone international.

Its not new.

There were at least 22 nationalities crewing HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.

English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, American, Italian, French, Swedish, Maltese, Dutch, German, West Indian, Jamaican, Swiss, Portuguese, Brazilian, Norwegian, Indian, Danish, Canadian, Manx, African (various).

Good call, CoolHead. :ok:

All common sense answers regarding the use of Commonwealth citizens, but again it's turning on another tap to help plug holes.
The country has the largest population ever and the smallest armed forces in modern history, yet we still cannot get enough bums on seats.

Thinking outside the box on recruitment/retention ideas is absolutely right, but why not fix basics first; i.e. poor accommodation before getting clever

Remember a sink has a plug as well as a tap.

I know the RAAF and RNZAF have both had recruitment drives in UK especially at a time of draw down in the RAF. There could well be incentives for their ex-pats to go home, especially where they are currently on similar or identical types of equipment.

Not forgetting our formidable friends from Nepal.
Why not expand the Brigade? We reject large numbers of Gurkhas who would run rings round much of British yoof

"Anyone can join the services from the Commonwealth Nations once they have passed the usual recruiting selection procedures" is what should have been said, as that is what has been announced.

LangleyBaston,

Many hundreds of "British Yoof" died or were dreadfully mutilated in recent service in Afghanistan, wash your mouth out!!!!!

There is one very large immovable obstruction to all this...........................................Crapita.

Take the RAF back to the 1940s, 50s and 60s, recruit lots of Poles and Czechs.

After you sir.

Must be a picky groundocrat.

Correct, Mr Baston can see me at C7 on Horse Guards, I can supply the bottle of water, By god I lived in some ****e accomodation in the military. Maybe thats why I got on the housing ladder as quickly as I could. You cannot do that on a military wage now, certainly the lower ranks.. Baston , you really are so far up your own.

Don't make me say the 'B' word!

On the point of Commonwealth citizens serving with UK armed forces, I read a couple of years ago that South Africa was moving to prohibit its citizens from taking up arms for any foreign government or organisation, as the government sees them all as effectively being mercenaries. Not sure if anything came of it.

Here is a link https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...robed-20030408

I signed on in what is now Harare. On my first squadron, Valiants, there were Myself, a South African, a Canadian and a British Argentinian. At that time it was calculated that 20% of the active pilots in the Air Force were Domiciled, Colonial or Overseas. Subsequently in my career I had a South African Squadron Commander, Australian, Canadian, Kenyan and Polish colleagues and a wealth of Irish crewmen.

The French Foreign Legion doesn't do too badly with its set up where only the officers are French( and male without a criminal record) . :-)