Would You Join the Army again?

JPW wrote:

I wholeheartedly endorse Bob G's opening phrase but would have to alter his conclusion to "in today's Army it would be impossible".

Why so?

Because JPW knows me and the details of my career.

Eric

For forty years, starting in the early 1950's at a well known Forces Boarding School in BAOR, Bob G and I have unknowingly chased each other round the world and back again. He too knows a fair amount about my military career.

From a personal point of view it would be impossible to replicate postings to places such as Aden, Rhodesia and Hong Kong and the camaraderie of the BAOR of the 1960s. Bob shares with me particularly happy memories of a tour with the UK based 6 Field Force in the late 1970s but involved NATO sponsored Exercises in BAOR, Denmark and Italy which we have referred to on this site.

Regimental identities are slowly disappearing from the British Army.We are going the same way as the Americans eg 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Brigade etc.Even recruiting nowadays you can't seem to get into the regiment of your choice in the infantry.The Royal Regiment of Scotland is what we in Scotland sign up for but you will not get your regiment of choice because of manpower problems with other units.One capbadge five battalions.

As JPW said it was the variety of postings that were available during our careers that made it so good. I hate to think what it will be like when we have pulled out of Germany and everyone is posted to UK stations only. The rare exception will be Cyprus, though I did read that there is talk of re-establishing an Army base in the Gulf area, probably the UAE.

BobG

Met a friend today who retired as WO1 in '93 having done 34 years with the infantry - said he enjoyed it all and has no regrets but wouldn't join today's army. Anyone here serve longer than that?

Earlier in the thread I said that I would join again, but the more I see of the 'modern' army the less I like it. Germany used to be thought of as a home posting it was so routine but these days it seems that after training a young soldier is (More or less) faced with the prospect of a life in the UK, I wouldn't fancy that much. I consider myself lucky to have spent ten years in Germany, absolutely loved it. Looking at the increasingly limited scope for travel and the postings open to todays soldiers I'm glad I joined in the 1970's. (1976 - 1992)

Including Boys Service I can claim 39 years. Joined AAS Arborfield in Sep 54 and retired in Jul 93 - a good life.

BobG

Well done. Bob - any advance on 39!- near offers accepted.

Cliffo

  Knowing what I know now ???..........................In a flash. !!!!!!!!!.

The present day Army folks.What is taken out of your salary? eg is it food and accommodation still or do they claw back other bits and bobs.Can anyone update me please.I could never work out why they took money from you for accommodation.Where else can you lay your head other than the barracks.The pads were paying a lot of their cash on substandard accommodation as well.Is it still the case for them?

rucjock21 wrote:

The present day Army folks.What is taken out of your salary? eg is it food and accommodation still or do they claw back other bits and bobs.?

I'm no expert on current conditions, but it's worth looking up the pay scales before coming to any conclusions. The data I have goes back to last year when a squaddy joined for around £14.000 pa. , a corporal averaged £31,000 and a sergeant could draw as much as £36,000. It was an eye opener to some regs I came across when they came out and found it was hard to match these sort of incomes and pay a mortgage with a civvy pay packet, one that offered no pension other than the standard OAP pittance, unless it was a job in the public sector or with a company like BT. And two weeks paid holiday didn't appeal either.

And it was an eye opener to me when half dozen of us old NS lads went back to Osnabruck to look round our old billets. The room in which I'd kipped with another JNCO was a single now. Full of sat. TV, microwave cooker and all mod cons. Cleaning was done by a civvy contractor, daily bedding rolls, inspections standing by beds were relics of the past. With Staybrite buttons & self coloured webbing personal attention was limited to a quick rub of the boots & once a week creases with an iron. To be fair, we did meet a couple in a bar who scorned our assessment of present army life. OK in camp quarters, one said, Ok if you could get one. He had to make do with a Portacabin until his turn came round.

With pay scales like those above, it's no wonder the drill square was filled with newer cars than the second hand stuff I made do with. If it was a choice between having all found and the £ 4 a week I got in NS after going on reg. pay ( less 3s 6d National Insurance !), or paying for some comforts & proper grub out of today's equivalent of £600 gross per week, I know which I'd take !

I expect somebody will prove I'm wrong !

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I expect somebody will prove I'm wrong !

Seems fairly accurate to me, I left in 84 as a Sgt and I had a solid bank account plus a new BMW and caravan. My only mistake was leaving at the 12 year point. 

i left in 59 as a sgt with about £150 ,in my pocket , my pay with different course additions was 14 quid a week , i started work driving trucks for 8 quid a week , and i regretted not staying on for 22 , all my life ,mind you i dont think i could put up with todays modern army , how can you get the old barrack room banter in your own little room. and its not right no bugger shouting and swearing at you , ginger

I think today's rewards are poor if you get injured and NO PENSION. the Territorials will be just canon fodder. Recently when passing a camp they were advertising for them after getting rid of professional and experienced soldiers.

Dulaigh wrote:

I think today's rewards are poor if you get injured and NO PENSION. ................

Don't think that's the proper story, mate. Check out "Army Pensions" & be amazed. As I read it there's a pension entitlement at 65 after two years service, a tax free lump sum after 12 years, and if you're over 40 with 18 years in, a full pension and an initial lump sum together with another lump sum at age 65. And all for no contributions by the soldier. Even anyone joining TA after 2005 gets something now.

Stipulations, if I've read a quick shufti properly, seem to be that, apart from re-settlement grants, pension payments for short term engagements aren't made until 65 years of age. That's pretty standard for any civvy job pension and also for a goodly number like me, who had to take out a private pension with no employer's contribution.

Army scheme looks like a pretty good deal.

Thanks folks for your contributions.It appears that overall life in todays modern army is definately a lot better than what us 'olduns' experienced over the years and decades.

Ah, but is it..........................? 

Well Shelldrake,with all the redundancies that are forthcoming something is not right.I know that in these times of austerity, there must be cuts to the defence budget and that the MOD are gearing up for a part-time army,navy and airforce with their reserve forces that will down tools on the shop floor and rush to the defence of the realm.If there are any of the lads that are still serving perhaps they can let us know what is what these days as I don't believe their recruiting films etc etc.

Shelldrake wrote:

Ah, but is it..........................? 

We will only know that if present serving members post on this thread.

Getting bit of a chuckle out of the stroll down memory lane from you bunch and the challenge the Glaswegian boys had with the various accents (interesting how every one else has an accent but oneself never does, of course!!). I haven't the slightest clue how anything ever got done in the British Army seeing as how none of you could make hide nor tail of what anyone else was saying!

In the early 70s when my dad was attached to the British Army, closing out what was left of the old Canadian Brigade Area and transferring holdings over to you guys, I ended up attending Cornwall school in Dortmund and hanging out with the kids of the Irish Rangers in Hemer. Some of the accents I didn't have much of a problem with....south shires English was fine (they all sounded like my Nana!), even Londoners were not too bad (I had cousins and aunts from different parts of London), but when it came to Geordies and rough and tumble Irish it was a struggle. Pretty much anybody from the North were a challenge. And it wasn't just the accents, which I eventually -- by and large -- was able to attune to, it was the colloquialisms that threw me....I caught on to what a 'bog' was (and it wasn't a swampy area...well, okay...some were!! LOL) and such but some totally escaped me and I grew fed up with always asking "what does that mean?" because I knew I was sounding like 'a right bloody thick-headed little git'. So I just held on and hoped that perhaps the context in which the strange word was being used would offer up a hint as to what the hell it meant. Sometimes it did, usually it didn't....

When I got back to Canada again, though, it was very interesting. First off, I tend to be bit of a mimic so I had this odd Canadian-and-whatever-else accent myself for the first little while which threw some of my peers off a bit; they had no idea 'what' I was. But I also was very aware for the first time of a decidedly "Canadian" accent and it was nothing like what the comedians made it out to be (nobody around here tacks "eh" onto the end of a sentence that I have ever noticed....down in the Maritimes, yes. Out here in Alberta? Nah....). Actually, what it reminded me of was mewing cats! Not offensive or anything but definitely a mewing....soft mewing. After about 6 months or so I couldn't hear it anymore.....

I've talked about this before somewhere here but I also find it interesting that smaller countries appear to have a greater diversity of accents, often within a few miles of each other. For instance, when I was getting ready to return to Canada after working up in Soest for 14 months, I was down in Lahr waiting for a military flight out back to Canada (dad still being in the Army at the time qualified me for it, thanks be! I was flat cold broke....) and decided since I had a few days to spare to hitch-hike over to Strasbourg as I'd never been to France the whole time I'd been in Germany.

A local picked me up and we, of course, chatted. He didn't have much difficulty understanding my Westphalian German -- and immediately knew I was a Canadian as a result -- but I had a helluva time deciphering his Black Forest dialect...I was getting maybe every 3rd word. Now, at the time, my German vocabulary was not half bad (my grammar not so much!!) and I was quite capable back then of carrying on a social conversation about the weather, etc. Nothing too detailed or technical. Politics were certainly out!!

Lahr is perhaps 500KM from Soest....not far really by Canadian standards. I currently live in Calgary and our provincial capital of Edmonton is approximately 500KM north of here....a 3 hour drive, give or take...yet there isn't an "Edmonton accent" vs a "Calgary accent" at all. Some rural Albertans I can pick up on here and there, but other than that we all sound pretty much alike. Parts of southern Ontario have a dialect and certainly out in the Maritimes they sure do.

While in Soest even I could tell if someone was from, for instance, Paderborn just by their accent and that was only a spit and a jump down the B-1 from Soest!!

Have you ever heard someone from the very north east of Scotland speaking Stephen?You would need a linguist to translate to you what they were saying at times.When I first ventured over the border when I was young I certainly could not unnerstaun whit they folk aroon Manchester wur sayin at a.Daresay,they could not understand me neither.But I had to adapt when I joined up and went to Aldershot for my training.Strange thing though,My first regiment was full of Jocks.

ACCENTS,worabboot us geordies dye not na hoo ta tak proper,get a few bottles of newcastle broons doon ya,then ye knaa what ahmean,and you will be to understand the jocks

Sorry lads ! It's all interesting stuff but wanders off the point a teeny bit don't it ? Maybe there should be a "Talking Local " topic........... What ? There is ? ......... To quote Brum ...... Bugger Me !

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Bugger Me !

You have to die for that to happen LOL.