National Defence committee  Yes. That's fundamentally what the establishment review is all about. In order for us to be able to generate sailors to be augmenting in ships, there needs to be a whole structure put around that, both in order to generate enough sailors at any given time to meet the augment target of 10% across the fleet and also to have all of the apparatus around that to make sure that naval reserve units can operate, that naval reserve headquarters can operate, that careers can be managed, and that training can be delivered.

National Defence committee  In fact, we're in the process of reorienting how we employ reservists at sea. In the past many years, the Kingston-class vessels were primarily crewed by reservists. We're moving back to an era when reservists will be on every ship of the surface fleet. We're at the opening days of that era.

National Defence committee  We manage the budget in two ways. We estimate an average of 17 days of training for each individual, but on top of that, we also plan quite robust regional and national-level exercises or training events that will draw in folks from multiple units. In other words, there's training at the unit level that we budget for, the 17 days, but then there are a significant number of events above and beyond that, which people can volunteer for in order to keep up their readiness levels.

National Defence committee  I will look to my deputy or chief to see if they know an average number of days.

National Defence committee  That is exactly what we would like our current retention working groups to start to tease out for us. Are there regional differences? Is there a change in the—if I can put it this way—life patterns? Are people staying in longer or leaving earlier in higher numbers? That's exactly the type of analysis we're hoping to have in the coming months to better understand the situation and then to develop better strategies to retain more people.

National Defence committee  That is a timely question. I don't think it's been a significant issue in the past in the reserves. In fact, many reservists will retire and don't even think of themselves as being veterans per se. That is changing, though, as we know. In the past it was more on an individual basis.

National Defence committee  The medical clearance and the security clearance are two of the factors that will take a substantial amount of time for all enrolment files, both regular and reserve. Within the Canadian Armed Forces, the security clearance process has changed immensely just in the last few months as a result of the adoption of new systems and processes.

National Defence committee  That is the eternal question. I think we are doing a pretty good job of it right now, with the changes we're making in the recruiting strategy to expedite enrolment. I would emphasize that there is no change in standard between reserve and regular force through this expedited enrolment process.

National Defence committee  That's a question that I'm not sure I can directly answer. I would also submit, though, that this was the period of the defence reduction action plan and the post-Afghanistan rationalization of the number of reservists who were working in full-time service. I think part of the initiative within the department was to make sure the overall number of primary reservists who were working in full-time service was brought back down closer to the pre-Afghanistan level.

National Defence committee  Most definitely. Certainly over the last few years, the budget that the reserve has required has been absolutely available. There's been no issue with budget.

National Defence committee  I think there is great interest in cadets. Those who are interested apply. They absolutely do. Chief, do you know how many more...?

National Defence committee  That is exactly the work of the establishment review that's under way right now. It's a little of all the things you just said. The former establishment was geared to delivering the ships' companies of 10 Kingston-class ships and the supporting functions around that. You can do a calculation based on ratios and the like to force-generate the required numbers.

National Defence committee  No, not quite. We are going to start to draw down—

National Defence committee  — in the Kingston class, so the Kingston class will also be accrued to a 10% target.

National Defence committee  That's an interesting question, because we all started roughly the same—the like-minded nations, the allies, and all of their reserves—approximately 90 to 100 years ago, and we have all evolved entirely differently, which is very interesting. The Canadian naval reserve is the only one I'm aware of that has a model of training sailors recruited off the street, for all intents and purposes.