One in four officers 'planning to quit Defence Forces in next five years'

Officers, who spoke anonymously to the review, painted a picture of being overworked and undervalued

More than a quarter of all officers in the Defence Forces plan to quit within five years, it has emerged.

The annual conference of the Representative Association for Commissioned Officers, or RACO, heard on Wednesday that 26.7 per cent of them see themselves quitting within five years – and another 17.5 per cent between five and 10 years.

And a climate survey of RACO by its members also found that another 26.7 per cent of officers were actively considering retiring from the Defence Forces. The damning report, unveiled at the RACO conference in Tullow, Co Carlow, also revealed massive scales of overwork for officers.

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Some 70 per cent of respondents to the survey said they were doing two jobs in the Defence Forces – with almost nine per cent doing three at the same time.

And officers, who spoke anonymously to the review, painted a picture of being overworked – and undervalued.

One officer with six to 10 years’ service said: "At times horrific working conditions as a result of my gender and sexual orientation. Constant anxiety tied to barracks closures. Lack of clarity with regards to overseas service. Uncertainty around accommodation. Feeling of being undervalued. Being managed by senior officers who have had an entirely different experience in the Defence Forces."

An officer with 11 to 15 years’ experience said: "Overstretched and undervalued. I don’t see any end in sight and it is affecting my mental health. Doesn’t seem like anyone cares – it’s too hard to raise a problem. I can attract a higher wage and better career opportunities elsewhere."

And a senior officer – with more than 30 years' service, said he was so disillusioned that he was just biding his time to get out.

He said: "I do not feel that the sacrifices I made over the years of my service have been recognised by the State or the Government, including the civil service.

"I have spent a long time away from my family, others a lot more, and whilst we didn’t expect choruses of ‘thank you for our service’ some basic respect and decency would have been nice.

"I will serve out my time, do my job, but I won’t be killing myself for the good of an ungrateful employer."

RACO General-Secretary Lieutenant-Colonel Conor King said the report’s findings that many officers wanted to leave came as no surprise to him – especially because of changes to the pension system in 2013 that made it more attractive for officers to leave for a second career.

He said: "I think the world of work is changing - certainly one job for an entire career is not the norm.

"However, it has been up to now generally the norm in the Defence Forces, because we have been set up to encourage long careers.

"We frontload all of our investment in training and education into the early years in order to develop leaders with particular skills and specialisations that allow them to do things that we do on a daily basis.

"It's also not surprising because of what I would say has been the deterioration in service conditions over the last number of years and the increased frequency of double and treble jobbing in units; the reduced staffing levels in units, and since 2013, the complete absence of a viable pension, which was the set of gold and handcuffs that kept members of the Defence Forces in career for a long time.

"It's not a surprise in any way shape or form."

RACO is now calling for better conditions for all military personnel.

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