Can new recruitment measures halt the Canadian Forces’ ‘death spiral’?

They come from as far afield as Comox, B.C., Grande Prairie, Alta., and Guelph, Ont.

Once strangers, these new Canadian Armed Forces recruits are now seldom more than a few metres from one another — eating, sleeping and exercising as a unit — all part of the bonding process designed to create the soldiers, sailors and airmen (and women) of tomorrow.

They’re among the first cohort to pass through Basic Military Qualification, or basic training, under new guidelines aimed at removing hurdles and boosting numbers — changes the Department of National Defence (DND) hopes will solve a personnel crisis that Defence Minister Bill Blair called a “death spiral” for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

CBC photographer Evan Mitsui spent a week at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School (CFLRS), in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., documenting recruits going through various weeks of the nine-week-long basic training course.

Credit by: CBC