Struggling to recruit: Young people in Eastern Europe shun army jobsAs instructors shout commands, dozens of students taking part in a pilot Czech army programme aimed at boosting flagging enlistment numbers crawl through forest scrub carrying combat rifles and learning proper shooting positions. Like most former Soviet-satellite states now in NATO, the Czech Republic has missed recruitment targets for years and struggled to maintain troop levels. But General Karel Rehka, the Czech armed forces chief, has called the current system unsustainable. Countries across eastern Europe have struggled to sign up new soldiers and keep experienced ones in a region where Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia all share a border with Ukraine. But with unemployment rates low across eastern Europe, a major challenge is convincing young people to enlist for less money than they can earn in the private sector.
