Young people were increasingly finding it difficult to “deal with authority and to adapt to a rigorous and disciplined regime,” the general told the parliamentary defence commission.
Many found it hard to be away from their families, disliked “the lack of comfort” in barracks life and struggled to “adapt to the new timetable” of a career in the forces, according to questionnaires conducted by the army.
“Society is changing,” the general said, with young people more cosseted and less robust than their predecessors.
The army is having trouble enlisting its annual quota of 8,000 new recruits, despite the fact that more than 35% of young people in Italy are unemployed.
Without fresh blood, the average age of soldiers is increasing – from 25 years during the 1980s, when national service was compulsory, to around 38 years now.
One expert said Italian parents were to blame, for giving their grown-up children generous allowances which meant they did not have to find a job.
“These kids have become used to receiving an allowance – why would they ever decide to live in a barracks, waking up in the morning to take a shower with 25 others?” Paolo Crepet, a sociologist, told La Nazione newspaper.
It is not the first time that Italy’s young people have been accused of being work-shy and overly sensitive.
They have been called “bamboccioni” or big babies by government ministers in the past.
In 2012, Elsa Fornero, the then labour minister, said they were too “choosy” in the jobs they were prepared to accept.
Italy is by no means the only country that is struggling with army recruitment.
The British Army unveiled a new campaign earlier this year which specifically targeted “snowflake” millennials.
The army said it was looking for “snowflakes, selfie addicts, class clowns, phone zombies, and me, me, millennials”.
While young people might be derided for their narcissism and dependency on social media, they had talents and skills which could be put to use in the army, the campaign said. Phone addicts have “focus” while selfie takers have “confidence”.
The campaign, with images based on the iconic Your Country Needs You recruitment poster of the First World War, targets so-called Generation Z, young people aged from 16 to 25.
In March, two months after its launch, the army reported that recruitment had increased.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/16/italian-army-struggles-find-enough-recruits-cosseted-millennials/
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