servicemen

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 11:16 am

Rider
I will agree that when i joined for a while i was right of attilla the hun and just short of rambo but personal incidences in my early career in NI shoved me a long way towards the anti war sector

Certainly i changed from go out and kill everybody that farts funny to i only go if it is the last, final, no more options, and the only response left.
Which is why i am right of centre on some issues and left of centre on others and extremely hard to pidgeon hole

It is probably why i have a different point of view (even to some other service people) i have seen boys suddenly become soldiers/men and ive seen the changes in them it happened to me

I also found it hard to understand civvy mentality to rules and laws, discipline does that to you

Post by **Big Boy** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:40 pm

Jaime wrote:

I don't understand your point here BB.

There were 2 points hidden inside my cryptic message ie:

1. The average school leaver would find working on a building site, earning peanuts well outside of his/her comfort zone. The services is a much brighter prospect.

2. The Poles are prepared to come here and make a go of things, even when wages not far in excess of minimum wage are on offer. They make a go of it by living in conditions that many UK residents would not even consider.

So, although the opportunities are there, they do not attract the rewards that today's average youngster feels he/she deserves. However, with a bit of work experience behind them, the rewards would generally be much greater.

Post by **Toni** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:03 am

Big Boy wrote: I know I made the quip about sailing ships, but when did you leave the navy? The guys I've worked with have always had their afternoon sport once a week, and a 'make amend' (half a day off) at least one other afternoon per week. They never seemed to start until 8, lunch was 90 minutes, and generally they knocked off by 4. Friday afternoons did not exist in their working week.

The above is still correct now I've moved tri-service.

Big Boy, you must let me know where you work as I will try to get myself a posting there. I can assure you it's nothing like that here at RAF Innsworth. Especially since the introduction of JPA (which you will no doubt be aware of). I run the station cricket team and last season we were able to field a team once, slightly down on the previous season where we managed about 5 or 6 outings. And this a Headquarters site, no shortage of people here. The days of Wednesday afternoons off for sport have gone - personnel just do not have the time for it.
I would agree that lower ranks, (I am one myself) get paid relatively well in comparison with civvy street, but don't forget we get paid by the day - if I'm on a guard duty for 7 days of 12 hour shifts there's no double time on Saturday and Sunday involved. If I need to be in early and work late there's no flexi clock.
What about civilians working at MOD sites who've never been in the military but are able to enjoy all the benefits of being members of the Sgts or Officers mess? Civilians here pay £50 a year to use the gym facilities, where can you get gym membership for that on civvy street. Civvies working at MOD sites do alright out of the military.

Post by **DawnHRD** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:33 am

Toni wrote: Civvies working at MOD sites do alright out of the military.

Good point & absolutely true - maybe that's the job to go for. All the perks & none of the nasty bits!

As for the sports afternoons & "make & mends", I've had no experience of the services since my husband left in 1994 (although that still feels fairly recent, to me

), but he was definitely getting those 2 perks & weekends off while he was based at HMS Collingwood. Of course, when he was drafted to a ship, that all changed.

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 1:46 pm

I was talking with my mate a few days ago and the falkland war came up and i reclled to him how my C.O Lt Col Moore Royal Engineers was writing a book on tumbledown ridge and that i had gone with him as he sketched out the Argentine positions (i also watched the Pioneer corps guys bagging the bodies)

Just out of interest today i typed in Falklands war and up popped something wikepedia i saw my ex C.O up n lights but a bit further on i read post war afflictions and was absolutely staggered to read More falkland war vets have committed suicide since the conflict than actually died during it.
I am still trying to get my head round it but i am sure it must have a lot to do with what i have written in my first post
Any thoughts you guys

Post by **lomuamart** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:03 pm

I'm just wondering what it has/had to do with Thailand?

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:37 pm

sorry lomu dont follow i have read your 2 posts on this thread
thailand has never come into it
please enlighten me

Post by **Pagey** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 4:34 pm

No one has mentioned the non contributory pension that certainly RAF personnel get.

I work with a lot of ex RAF and Navy, we even have an RNA social club on our small compound.

We have ex RAF personnel who are in their mid forties and are getting a pension now, not when they are 65, of around £14k a year !!

I wish I had known that 28 years ago, I would be retired in HH now !!

Good original post though sarge apart from the quote that you all join the forces to help others have free speech etc..........

Post by **STEVE G** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:43 pm

Lomu wrote:

I'm just wondering what it has/had to do with Thailand?

Nothing, but you could say the same thing about the thousand odd posts on English soccer.

Post by **lomuamart** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:52 pm

sargeant wrote:sorry lomu dont follow i have read your 2 posts on this thread
thailand has never come into it
please enlighten me

Exactly.

Post by **lomuamart** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:57 pm

SteveG,
True, and every day I wake up I take another breath of air from this country.
I appreciate this in in foo, so I probably shouldn't be blowing off. However...

There were a lot of people killed by a suicid bomber in Pakistan the other day.
Discuss.

Post by **STEVE G** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 8:54 pm

Lomu wrote:

There were a lot of people killed by a suicid bomber in Pakistan the other day.
Discuss.

How about, â€œRetaliation for U.S. meddling lands Musharraf in the guano.â€

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:52 am

Lomu quote "exactly" it doesnt enlighten buggerall in your second post on this thread you stated you had no problem with this thread

In your 4th post on this thread you acknowledge it is in FOO and probably you shouldnt be blowing off

As i type my daughters fiance is a sgt in Naritiwat southern thailand oh and as a small minor aside his father was on the front page of the news here as he was wounded in a bomb in the south 2 weeks ago He is an army officer as well.

This thread is about why servicemen/women think differently my last post on that shows graphically why as 269 of them thought so differently they took their own lives

Steve g football exactly and if you start a thread "U.S. meddling " i will gladly join in and lomu you start a thread on musharraf and ill join that one as well

Post by **Guess** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:17 am

There already seems to be quite a bit on football (well soccer anyway), and now this longish thread on servicemen and ladies. Of course there is a link with Thailand in fact I can think of three.

1.. They have service men in Thailand.
2.. This site is called Hua Hin After Dark. I know of two places called Hua Hin and boyh are in Thailand.
3.. They play soccer in Thailand, in fact it is on the increase.

So we have the connection established now I have a question.

I want to start a thread on life in the Broze Age but do not know if it has a relevance to Thailand.

Can anybody advise?

BTW Lomu. You must stop blowing off especially when you've been drinking Erdinger.

Post by **STEVE G** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:41 am

Guess wrote:

I want to start a thread on life in the Bronze Age but do not know if it has a relevance to Thailand.

Can anybody advise?

Guess, there is a Bronze Age archaeological site at Ban Chiang in Udon Thani, so I think you should be safe with that. However if you were spend too much time around Stonehenge, I imagine you could be on more on tenuous ground.

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