If the recruits don't turn out OK it is because of the training not the individual. 
Don't be too quick to assume what we regulars are thinking.
I think all the regulars would agree with you on the points you are making about the raw materials (kids) and training.
The issue is that many part timers in the UK don't get the training, or the time at the sharp end to hone these skills.
The Territorial army in the UK for the most part lack essential training. This is a fault of government policy and MOD budgets.
I once had to (on exercise) serve under a TA Sargeant who had 10 years experience of odd weekends and a two week camp every year (total less than 2 years experience at the job and long periods of non service). Nightmare. He was telling me how to do a trade that was my full time job. He was also supposed to be superior at military skills. This is where the friction between regulars and part timers comes from.
In the past, many UK national servicemen got only 6 weeks training before being sent to the sharp end. OK for those in the rear echelon perhaps, but not for infantry troops.
The old hands spent a lot of energy keeping the newbies alive, while they learned on the job.
There are exceptions to the lack of training issue. Like the part time US troops who have done full time tours of duty in Iraq. They deserve respect.
The fact that most of the British army at the beginning of WW2 was a conscript/volunteer army is also not forgotten. Most of the regular army (The Expeditionary Force) had been smashed before Dunkirk.
Also, as regulars in cold war Europe, we were well aware of the fact that our role was to slow down the advance of the Red Forces, until the conscript army could be mobilised. A matter of days or at best a few weeks.
