The Papua New Guinea Defence Force says it has been cutting personnel numbers to sift out older soldiers, but now, amid calls for a larger army, it is looking to attract younger recruits.
The PNGDF currently has 2-and-a-half thousand personnel but it wants to double this figure.
PNGDF spokesperson. Captain Alios Tom, says the cuts were about creating a stronger force for the future.
"The cut was basically a review for the defence manpower capability, we have a lot of older people in the defence force. So we're reviewing, what we call down sizing and then right size the force, so that the older people were retrenched and we're now going through a recruiting phase to bring up the numbers again with the younger people."
Captain Alios Tom of the PNG Defence Force.
