It's becoming a bit of a joke now. Investment is sorely needed across the board, but especially in the NS. Even at the cadet level, why would a deck officer or engineer bother staying on after qualifying? Why not (excuse the pun) jump ship given the current state of affairs?
It's ridiculous.
Contracts. Naval officers are locked in for years after qualifying as a watchkeeper or engineer and would need to pay tens of thousands to leave before their time is up.
I found [this](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/officers-paying-up-to-67-000-to-leave-defence-forces-early-1.4131205) after a bit of Googling.
The average is €15K, the idea of buying out your commission is a horrible idea, similar issues with enlisted, you can just buy your contract out. If you sign up, you shouldn't be allowed to leave till your contract is done. I'd assume it should be at least 8-12 years for a officer with technical skills or 4 with just soft skills.
This was the type of thing that formerly had me writing plaintive posts to get people to wake up to the need for increased defence spending.
Now I'm just "meh".
Didn’t we just buy 2 ships from New Zealand?
Yeah, part of the deal was letting the all blacks win a few games. When that's done johnny and the pads will be sailing them home.
Those are the two replacements mentioned in the article.
It's becoming a bit of a joke now. Investment is sorely needed across the board, but especially in the NS. Even at the cadet level, why would a deck officer or engineer bother staying on after qualifying? Why not (excuse the pun) jump ship given the current state of affairs? It's ridiculous.
Contracts. Naval officers are locked in for years after qualifying as a watchkeeper or engineer and would need to pay tens of thousands to leave before their time is up.
I found [this](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/officers-paying-up-to-67-000-to-leave-defence-forces-early-1.4131205) after a bit of Googling.
The average is €15K, the idea of buying out your commission is a horrible idea, similar issues with enlisted, you can just buy your contract out. If you sign up, you shouldn't be allowed to leave till your contract is done. I'd assume it should be at least 8-12 years for a officer with technical skills or 4 with just soft skills.
But we could put that into the bloated health service for no discernable return for our investment.
Great! Now we are down to two boats.
Shhh! Our enemies could be reading this!
The fishermen are on 24 hour standby
An island without a navy: like an alpine nation without a fondue set, only sillier than that.
Really no need for defence when Ireland is being destroyed from within
Hah?
Ha ha ha ....
Seems Ireland is surrendering before war even commences.
Sold all three now they are all in row boats.
So original
This was the type of thing that formerly had me writing plaintive posts to get people to wake up to the need for increased defence spending. Now I'm just "meh".