Yesterday Kaalakiota Corporation executives joined Tanis Cheung, Director of Public Relations for the Home Guard, on Nonni I for the official opening of a new state-of-the-art recruitment and training centre for security service personnel. The event also served as a platform for the gathered officials to outline their vision for the corporation's compulsory enforcement service program.
Like many of the major mega-corporations that comprise the State, Kaalakiota has for a long time followed Caldari law in maintaining a program of compulsory law enforcement service. The children of all employees of the corporation's various offices and subsidiaries must serve a minimum of one year in the Home Guard after completing their education before they seek continuing employment. The Home Guard's Recruitment Division has announced record subscription numbers resulting from the State's booming population, and the new facility on Nonni I is the first of several that have been commissioned to ease the growing demand for training and educational facilities.
Cheung was keen to express the corporation's investment in the nation's next generation of law enforcement officers. "We are glad to welcome so many new recruits into the ranks of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced enforcement agency in the galaxy," he announced. "We are committed to providing each and every cadet with the resources and the training they need to protect our civilian employees and our numerous corporate assets." He went on to showcase the many features of the new facility, which included cutting-edge virtual combat simulators, artificially constructed survival environments, and several hangars stocked with the latest vehicles and drones to be delivered from the corporation's assembly lines.
It was confirmed that the corporation had already received an increase of two percent in youth service applications over last year's figures for the same period, and that they expected these numbers to continue to rise steadily over the next decade. Additional similar facilities are to be built in three other planetary locations in Lonetrek and the Kaalakiota Corporation Board has promised significant funding over the next financial quarter to ensure this development program stays on track.
In the Nonni system the opening of the new Home Guard facility has been hotly anticipated, not just by locally based youths that are due to begin their compulsory service, but by other employees of the corporation eager to return to active duty. It is commonly acknowledged that the security services such as the Home Guard provide valuable experience and training in key skills that help generate corporate employment opportunities in later life.
Perhaps just as importantly, if not more so, the security services provide a gateway to employment in the Caldari Navy, and for the best and the brightest it may be the first step towards a career as an officer or even a pod pilot. In fact, progressing through the Navy is one of the only ways a common Kaalakiota employee can enter the capsuleer training program, and so a significant proportion of rookies sign up in the hope that their compulsory term of service will provide them to a new life flying among the stars.
One of the several thousand applicants found waiting in line at the new facility yesterday was Roppe Keluvikka, an electronics graduate from Haajinen who, like many others, has the ambition of becoming a pilot. "I can't wait to complete my induction trials," he confessed. "Ever since I was eight years old I have dreamed of piloting spacecraft and visiting distant planets. It's all I've ever wanted, and I know that I have what it takes."
Other applicants in the queue had different plans, such as Akori Vuyotay, an athlete and biology graduate from Aivoli who has a number of college trophies in assault racing. "The combat and self-defence training won't be that much different from what I know already," she said confidently. "Besides, if I can make it onto one of the Guard teams and pick up some commendations, then I should be all set to turn pro after my tour is finished and hit the big time."
There were a number of older applicants in line too hoping to return to the fold, including Mikkel Hekkilen, a civil engineer with five years of previous service already under his belt. "Things have been tough in my field," he admitted, "and it hasn't panned out quite the way I expected. The shares and benefits packages for senior security officers are pretty good and I figure I'm better off enlisting again to see what happens."