From the tone of this discussion it would appear that the prevailing "flavour of the day" emerging from America in the 90's had it completely bassackwards. Instead of putting CSS types into the Reserves and filling the Regs with bayonets it would appear that the Regs are required as CSS types and the Reservists are best suited to supply bayonets (for one or maybe two tours, now and then, as they feel like it). Crikey I'm gonna get slagged ;D.
OK, kit needs maintenance, whether it is in the field, in garrison or in storage. Whether it is operated by Reservists or Regs. I am willing to bet that most of the Technical skills that are missing are maintenance type skills and if I am not totally misunderstanding the tech world most of the tech trades are focussed on a piece of kit and the operator is expected to be able to service that kit (at least to some extent). That would tend to draw out the education process and make techies harder to find.
Assuming this to be the case, in the civvy world your average "operator" hasn't got a clue about how to repair his kit - some don't even know how the thing works. How many here can describe how his/her cell phone, tv, refrigerator, computer, camera and car all work. Precious few I would guess.
If what I suspect is true then would it help if the trades were reviewed and their skills split between those minimal skills necessary to operate the kit (often skills that most people pick up in everyday life after minimal training and 5 minutes with an instruction manual) and the complex skills necessary to repair kit.
If this were done then you could take your average civilian and relatively easily turn him/her into a truck driver (relatively I said) and focus him/her on learning how to become a soldier with small arms skills and knowledge of military procedures, protocols and SOPs. Pretty quickly you have an effective contributor to the CF available from the Reserves.
Most people that join the Reserves, me included, do it/did it because they want to contribute but also because they want to do soldierly things and use soldierly stuff. Soldierly stuff is Infantry Stuff, is Cavalry Stuff, is Arty Stuff. Crawling in the mud, driving rugged looking vehicles in obnoxious places, and making big bangs..... all the time getting paid for it and enjoying the company of others that enjoy the same stuff. Finding people to do that kind of stuff (riflemen, gunners, drivers - truck or tank) is relatively easy for the Reserves. Finding somebody that wants to run an NBC decam station is hard and finding somebody wanting to repair a motherboard for minimum wage is impossible.
CSS needs to find a clear line between maintenance skills and operator skills.
Operator skills should be the easily trainable ones - ones that any average citizen can do without trying - but that will be honed by practice in a variety of environments. These skills can be performed by Regs and Reservists, in garrison, on domestic ops or on expeditionary ops.
Maintenance skills are specialist skills and only full time personnel are capable of handling these and they have to be conducted, as noted in storage facilities, in garrison, on field exs, on domestic ops and on expeditionary ops. That's an awful lot of locales. It means an awful lot of techies. Minimizing the demand for techies is critical.
Kit acquisition is one way to deal with this. Acquired kit should not require a lot of training to operate (think in terms of your digital video-cam or DVD player - how many took a course to learn how to operate it). Acquired kit should also be considered as first of of all disposable and, where expense is too great, swappable. No repairs in the field should be the mantra. Something breaks, replace it and send it out of the line to have it repaired if possible. That means more money on kit and spares and more trucks but they are easier to come by than techies. This I know. Because I spend time trying to build high tech plants that can be operated by mixed crews of Mexicans and Phillipinos working under American supervisors either at sea or on some god forsaken rock that requires a 40 min flying boat ride from the nearest dirt strip. The technical support comes from people hired at 30,000 USD per year with a grade 10 education. There may be a college trained engineering technician or two on staff.
Techies and Rifles (lets say gunners and drivers as well here) require two different streams.
Rifles can be recruited for one, maybe two tours and then many of them would comfortably retire to a reserve unit and settle down to family life and a civvy job ready for the call. Many others would find the job interesting and rewarding and make it their careers, full of the knowledge of what that career will entail and the impact it has on a "normal" life. Mix that up with some down time and domestic assignments for training, as trainers, as support staff to reserve units (all of which requires the right balance between numbers and assignments) and you have functioning combat arms.
Some of those Rifles (the experienced ones) could be in line to do some first line serviceability evaluations after training and form the core of the field maintenance staff.
Techies by and large will have to be paid as civilians in order to compete with the civilian market. Some techies can be convinced to come out and ply their trade for the good of the country, for the thrill and excitement of foreign places, for the companionship of likeminded individuals, for the opportunity to do soldierly things, for the education....but by and large .... when the mortgage comes due.... they are going to be awfully tempted by the wages being paid in the civvy world.
The civvy world balances out the high cost of techies by hiring on demand, for a limited number of hours a week with not free clothes and grub.. but the money is better.
Thus my prescription..
As far as possible techie work should be civvy work. Uniformed techie work should be all about replace not repair.
Lots of plug'n'play spares on hand.
Kit that any reasonably intelligent civvy can operate.
A combat arms heavy reserve that has spent some time on tour but is "In Reserve" ready for call up at times of dire need, either domestically or occasionally (once in a generation) overseas.
A Regular Force recruited with an expectation of a life spent overseas and/or in constant training ready for immediate deployment.
Lots of training time.
Taskings and bodies matched to give adequate downtime.
Gaps in this formula to be covered by people in uniform.
Cheers.
