Political Science

Background Information
The New Zealand Defense force is made up of a Navy, Air force and an Army. Each service runs their own recruit training at their own base locations. The federal government of the country of New Zealand has been training their different military service units independently. The three military service units in the country, just like any other country in the world, require individuals to be physically fit. The requirements of a physically fit individual do not guarantee them an easy time when training. It is just helpful for the individuals to counteract to the hard system of training offered in the military school. In fact more than a half of the requirements of training for all the units are the same (Wicksteed Major, 1982). It beats logic therefore for the country of New Zealand to carry out the training in separate environments. This paper seeks to show that the method employed by New Zealand in training their military recruits independently is a waste of money and resources.

Despite the many areas of similarity seen in the independent service units, the country of New Zealand has over the years been using these modes of recruit training. It is true that there are enough commonalities that each service covers in their recruit training that could allow a single defense force recruit training centrally (Franke, 1999). Some systems used for training of the recruits have fully purposed to completely break down the person and at the same time restructure and rebuild the individual to conform to the requirements of the military group. The process also may attempt to transform the person to suit the system.

Standard uniforms are given out to the recruits, their hair cut short among other factors. The soldiers are required to conform to the required standards. The important part of the elementary training is mainly psychological (Martin, 2006). When a recruit is found not to conform to the orders and obey the instructions in practicality, they may not be considered ready for the military operation. The military training therefore can be done jointly.

What the Army recruits require, the Navy and the Air force have been in need of the same. There are common areas of practice. The training has been going on independently (Franke, 1999). Every soldier regardless of the service unit needs to be physically fit. The training for physical fitness is also the same. The operations of a soldier in the military are more or less the same for all the service units.

The New Zealands training for her military is done separately. The training for fitness and the resocilaization process which could have effectively been done jointly has taken different procedures. The Army has had its own camp and training school where they receive their training from. Likewise, the Navy and the Air force have had such.

DISCUSSION
The method used by the country of New Zealand in training their soldiers is not all that bad and it has some advantages. It is very healthy for the soldiers as far as the orientation to their particular culture is concerned. Independent training procedures employed here have helped maintain the culture of the different military groups. It has to a very great extent avoided mixing up of the cultures. There is preservation of the norms and the requirements of each and every service unit. The training right from the elementary level is done in an independent way from one service unit to the other (Wicksteed Major, 1982). The convictions held here is that every soldier needs to specialize in their field.

All the same, the methodology and modalities applied here in the training by the nation of New Zealand has not yielded satisfactory results as far as economics is concerned. There has been a continued waste of resources and training material through the duplication of these training procedures done independently (Rolfe, 1999). A lot of money has been expended more than it would have been if the exercise at the initial stages was done jointly. Such results prompt the need of devising other ways of doing the exercise.

However, all military initial training procedures begin with a process of Resocialization. This is a concept and process based on sociological theory and practice. It deals with the retraining of an individual emotionally and mentally in a way that the people can operate in an area which is utterly different from the environs one is accustomed to (Martin, 2006). This is what the military recruits undergo before they are completely turned into soldiers from the civilian nature. However, the military forces have different groups. Their different field operations obviously would indicate that their training would take different methods. Nonetheless, a soldier is a soldier. This is one thing that the country of New Zealand among other countries offering independent military training seems to forget.

All except the training of officer trainees have a lot of commonalities in the training and resocialization process. The military forces main function is to protect the state, nation or country from external attack. Therefore, there is need for joint readiness to combat forces that are meant to invade a nation. The practice utilized by the country in this case does not add up to an attractive picture of the countrys efforts in saving the scarce resources available. The idea is never feasible economically (Rolfe, 1999). All units including the Army, the Navy and the Air force would require similar orientation to the military operations and procedures. This is a complete change of personality that each individual has to go through before they take part in the execution of the military duties.

The Army and the Marine recruits are almost always trained in an essential marksmanship with personally-assigned rolls of ammunition and weapons, maintenance of weapons in the field, combat hand-to-hand, the fitness training which is done physically, basic survival methods and techniques together with first aid procedures (Martin, 2006). The Navy and the Coast guards would definitely be trained to survive in water. Physical fitness is of equal importance. Compared to the Army and the Marine Corps, the requirements of training have some common grounds. The Air force similarly needs such like training of physical fitness though it may need military and classroom based instructions which are required for their field.

Benefits of joint training
Joint training is usually structured in a way that all the units of the armed forces are ready to execute in one force the strategy of the national military. This is usually done in an effort to shape the international environment and giving attention to the full spectrum of disaster and scope of the operations in the military (Rolfe, 1999). The most important thing here is that joint recruit training helps the units to be ready to defeat the enemies from the same point of action which is a great source of strength and increases joint readiness to combat.

Training in the military forces has a lot of similarities. The main training efforts applied at the earlier stages has all to do with the changing of the recruited fellows into soldiers to do away with the civilian nature in them. There is therefore no logic for the country of New Zealand to carry out this operation in separate conditions and environments. This only adds up cost to the process. To prepare for an uncertain time in the future, the forces should have a similar training involvement (Martin, 2006). No matter how well the training could have been conducted, problems could easily emerge in the battle field. Common language and unity is very crucial when executing military roles and thereby the efforts applied in training three units separately would be of no importance.

The joint recruit training will also help in saving on the man power needed to do so. Separate training will demand the involvement of more trainers (Franke, 1999). The training of the three service units of the country of New Zealand will demand the deployment of many training officers. These officers will need to be paid every moment they are involved in the training session. This indeed wastes the countrys resources.  The more the number of trainers, the more finances would be required to cater for them.

It is therefore of no use to deploy training officers to cater for groups differently while they could have been training from a common point. This is applicable and has worked out for many countries (Wicksteed Major, 1982). These nations and countries have resorted to this as the efforts have been economically useful. The resources are indeed saved by employing the joint training method. Separate training camps realizes wastage of resources as some material that could be applied for many recruits finds their way in serving only a small group.

The means applied here jointly goes a long way in promoting joint and strong military operations. The operations in the military when combating external forces and demands are all dependent on the unity in doing so. Joint recruit training makes a move in promoting joint readiness of all the units in the military forces. This is a very important step in the military training. At some point, there needs to be harmony when executing the roles of military.

Independent recruit training modalities employed are unhelpful in promoting unison in the forces. However much similar the curriculum in the common grounds may seem, the training when done differently would produce different results. Coming together in a common training environment makes people alike (Franke, 1999). The persons thinking and way of doing things automatically takes after each other. This is a very crucial point to the military. It promotes joint readiness and action in the process of executing the operations of military.  

Limitations of joint training
However, the joint training could easily be found introducing a mix up in the individual service units. The service units have different cultures. In most cases, the recruit training offered jointly mainly favors the Army Service Unit. The Army is mainly involved in operations of the dry land and keeping peace at the borders (Rolfe, 1999). The Navy Service Unit on the other hand will mostly find their job at the waters such as the sea, oceans, although there are some departments that have to operate in the dry land. Therefore, the Air force Service Unit is the one whose culture could be eroded as time goes by.

As a result of this, the joint training of the military forces may need a Single Service phase to cover specific requirements not common to all services. This is very evident as seen in the case of the Army which benefits entirely at the expense of the other Service Units. The joint military training can only be applicable at some level. Despite the existence of common areas of operation, the system could easily erode some cultures of some particular service units.

The resocialization process in the military training takes in account in a broad way the basic training required for the Army soldiers (Martin, 2006). Of importance to note is that there could be a waste of resources in training the other service units on matters which are not of major application and importance to some units.

Proposed model
Recruit training is the first indoctrination and guidelines given to new personnel in the military. It can be common to every recruit, selected officers on the grounds of experience as exhibited during the training period or may be for the ranks enlisted. Trainee officers have been found to undergo a more serious and vivid program. This is the only set of military group among other special ones that may require independent programs. Their culture and orientation in the military forces is very different from the rest of the military recruits (Martin, 2006). The way of doing things for the other military recruits other than the officers is very similar and therefore could easily be done jointly.

The training of the officers in the military which requires special attention usually comes before the main common training of the recruits. The country of New Zealand could make use of this model to make sure it saves on the resources of money and materials in the training process (Franke, 1999). Much of the initial training for all service units is similar. The Army, Navy and the Air force therefore could be jointly training together during the early stages of their service in the military. This initial training mainly involves the process of creating transformation in the civilians. The transformation is meant to change the civilians into sailors (for the Navy), soldiers, marines, coast guardsmen or the airmen (for the air force).

It is virtually a way of conditioning whereby the inductees are highly encouraged to some extent to burry their individuality for the better part of the service unit. The conditioning of these civilians is very important for the military ability to function since combat requires people to tolerate stress and execute actions which are basically not common in the normal way of life. The nature and the amount of the conditioning to these recruits will vary from one service unit to another at higher levels (Martin, 2006). But for recruit training at the initial stage, the country of New Zealand could employ the basic conditioning using this model. There is no need to duplicate resources therefore whilst the same resources could have been used in a joint recruit training session.

Conclusion
Having clearly considered the functions of the different service units of New Zealand, it is imperative to note that training them independently only increases cost to the federal government. The duplication of the training facilities is a real wastage of resources for a country. It is true that the duties and operation modes of the different service units may differ. However, there is a possibility of integrating these units and ensuring that they are training from a common point. The stipulations of the proposed model offer a clear guideline on the execution of the joint training efforts of the military forces.

Many countries and nations of the world have been using this method of joint military recruit training and it has worked for them. The process of resocialization helps civilian recruits into the military act as soldiers. The soldiers now seem like they posses reversed roles in the society. It is very important for the recruits to execute their operations in a manner that would clearly put demarcation between the civilians and the soldiers.

Recruits are essentially given instructions in drill to march, stand and give response to some orders in a manner that is unquestionable. In the past, drills were derived from the military tactics whereby the soldiers in the fire line presented accurate and coordinated motions of loading and firing muskets. Nowadays, these specific tactics have become obsolete. However, drilling is important since it performs a psychological function as it inculcates commands and trains the recruit to unhesitatingly act in the face to deal harshly with situations.

Learning commands of drill have been helpful in the contemporary infantry training in the military. It maintains the soldier in proper position relative to their peers and thus sustains the shape of their formation as they move over irregular terrain. Recruits are normally put under very vigorous training physically, in the efforts of preparing for the demands of combat as well as to weed out and remove the less able or those that are not fully motivated. This has been influential in building morale and has an element of providing a sense of achievement for the recruits having met the physical requirements.

Recommendations
The training of military recruits before being fully involved in the military operation has been found to take different forms. However, any government input in the military operations should be seen as being very useful without constraining its resources. In the past, the military was greatly comprised of the Army (Franke, 1999). As time has elapsed, the military has come up with other units which help to maintaining peace at the borders in other areas of operation. All of these soldiers need a joint force in the preparation to combat challenges posed to the nation from outside.

There is a need therefore for any country to embrace a joint recruit training model as explained above. It will be very useful for any country. The joint training of the military groups helps in the making sure that the soldiers from all units have joint readiness in fighting external wars. It is a very economical way of doing the training. The resources which would have been duplicated are utilized in a very special way. There is no more wastage of resources in this model of training the military recruits (Rolfe, 1999). The little resources available are put together for their maximum use.

It is therefore highly recommended that this method (proposed model) be put into use. The joint military recruit training has for many years been used by other countries and has not fully been effective. The only drawback in the historical joint military training is the fact that some cultures meant specifically for a certain service unit could be interfered with. For instance, the culture and orientation of the Navy is basically in the management of peace round waters like in the seas and oceanic regions. The joint military training has for many years put emphasis on dry land which mainly favors the Army.

The Air force in this case could also been found that they benefit a little. All the same they still have some commonalities in which they can train together as a single unit. This new model of training makes provision for a common training session and later giving room for the different training for the requirements as stipulated in the constitutions of each service unit. These differences should not be used as points of argument as to why the training needs to be done independently (Franke, 1999).
 There are a lot of savings economically that can be realized through the implementation of this model. The soldiers after having the common training are now allowed to go to their respective camps from where they receive training and directions based on the demands of the particular service unit (Franke, 1999). The only groups of military training that could find a fully independent training could be the training meant for the officer trainees. These are somehow special as their duties include some kind of special programs.