Mr. Chair, thank you. Those are three very good questions, and I will endeavour to answer them in order.
First and foremost is what I spoke to regarding the rations and quarters remittance when you join the Canadian Armed Forces and go through your preliminary training. For basic training in Saint-Jean, followed by whatever occupation or trade training you need to undertake, during that entire time frame, if you are in our quarters, and you are eating in our mess halls, you are neither paying for your room nor paying any costs for the food you are provided. That is significant. As you can imagine, that's probably putting back into those individual's pockets, over the span of a year, approximately $10,000 in terms of costs they wouldn't otherwise have. Those are members who are making the lowest amounts. One of the positive changes to addressing the challenges, particularly in attracting individuals, is in offering that to them.
The second, if I understand the question, is regarding the cost of relocation. Just to perhaps explain this to the committee, when Canadian Armed Forces members relocate, we actually have a very robust suite of benefits we provide to members. All the costs for relocating your households goods and effects, for packing those up in a van and moving them wherever are paid for by the Crown.
The Crown also pays for your real estate fees, your legal fees and your land transfer tax. We reimburse you for the costs of your lodging and your travel expenses, as well as provide meals for you throughout that time period. Once your house is packed up, and while you're waiting for your household goods and effects to be delivered, we pay for that.
We also pay for your house-hunting trip. We pay for those costs so that you are able to go to the location and spend a week or more, if you want to extend that. Those are in addition to benefits, as I mentioned, such as the temporary dual residence, the home equity assistance or the real estate incentive. For most members, the actual costs of physical relocations are covered. In addition, we also provide a posting allowance to members, which, depending on your marital status, will be either a full month's pay or a half a month's pay.
The second piece around looking at relocation is not so much about our relocation benefits, but about looking at how we have traditionally managed our personnel in meeting the Canadian Armed Forces requirements. At the end of the day, there are certain service imperatives where, if we need someone to go overseas because we have a commitment to fulfill for NATO, that billet has to be filled. If there is a unit that needs a commanding officer or a chief warrant officer as the regimental sergeant major, then that will cause relocation.
We are certainly looking at how frequently we have to relocate members. I would say that, largely, if you are in the navy, you would tend to stay located on whichever coast is your home port for a longer period of time than, perhaps, individuals who happen to be in support trades would stay where that need is greatest. We are looking, overall, at how we can minimize some of that churn, but we understand, as part of our proposition, that we need to incentivize members to be mobile so that they can get the experience and attain the training required so that there can be general officers or senior NCOs to lead the Canadian Armed Forces.
I hope that answers all your questions in the order that you asked.
Thank you.