Lesbian ex-soldier compensation thread.

[cpunk]

shocking amount of compo in comparison to the lads/lasses that are getting hurt in sandy places!

how can they justify it being so much!??

It's calculated according to a formula based on how much she is deemed to have lost in earnings, together presumably with legal costs and some degree of compensation for injured feelings. This is different to the AFCS, which is a one-off payment to help meet immediate needs followed, in theory, by a lifetime of financial and welfare support, through a War Pension (or whatever it's called now), the NHS etc. The reality is probably that the average severely wounded serviceman (or woman) will receive much more compensation and financial support over the course of their lifetime than LBdr Fletcher will get from the system in this one-off payment, but the headline figures make it easy for the Richard Littlejohn's of this world to fill their columns in the Daily Sieg Heil and get the outrage bus fuelled up. As I said above, the person who caused this is the Sgt who harassed LBdr Fletcher: he's the fcuker who should be explaining himself to the wounded.

[hackle]

homo in Latin refers to the earth, as in humus or literally earthling!!

Impressive. First classical WAH on Arrse?

[DesktopCommando]

there was no question of having to take a declaration of sexual orientation when you joined

...er when I joined in 1995 I was asked the question and it was on the SC form as well in the initial interview

[cpunk]

However the fact remains that her gall in believing that her payout is more justified than some poor sod coming back from Herrick with no legs and then having the temerity to comment on it still leaves me with anger.

I think you misunderstood what she was saying. As I read it, she said she was disgusted by the low levels of compensation given to wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.

[hackle]

there was no question of having to take a declaration of sexual orientation when you joined

...er when I joined in 1995 I was asked the question and it was on the SC form as well in the initial interview

Were you sitting on his knee at the time?

[cpunk]

there was no question of having to take a declaration of sexual orientation when you joined

...er when I joined in 1995 I was asked the question and it was on the SC form as well in the initial interview

Well it wasn't when I joined in 1983. I was first asked when I had a PV interview in 1985 and, IIRC, it was only under those circumstances that the subject was ever raised. It may have changed subsequently. In any case, as I mentioned above, homosexuality per se wasn't illegal, just homosexual acts.

[Tiger-Monkey2]

I was not asked in 1979.

Meanwhile my contempt for this woman remains as high ever.

However, I do not dislike her for whatever her flexible sexuality is today. I do not like members of speshul protected groups who are able to milk as much of our money as possible for such rubbish as "hurt feelings".

Still small change compared to some MPs.

[devilish]

Due to the usual suspects coming out with the usual homophobic drivel, the thread has been binned. It is a perfectly legitimate subject for discussion but it's only going to stay here if we avoid words like 'cunt', 'dike' and so on, which rather prove ex-LBdr Fletcher's point that it isn't possible to be a lesbian in the army without being subject to cretinous harassment (by individuals presumably seeking to be banned or O2 tagged on Arrse).

A couple of points first though. As hackle said in the previous thread, it has never been illegal to be homosexual in the Armed Forces. It was illegal to take part in homosexual acts. There is a difference, and as he also pointed out, there was no question of having to take a declaration of sexual orientation when you joined: it was just assumed you were straight. Thus it is not axiomatic that ex-LBdr Fletcher was a 'liar' when she enlisted.

FWIW, my view is that it is not LBdr Fletcher's fault that the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is insufficiently generous, and it wasn't actually her fault that a senior NCO sexually harassed her and exposed the army to the risk of having to make a large compensation payout. Blaming her for it is ludicrous.

Carry on if you want to...

my bold

I seem to remember my recruiter asking if I had "any gay tendencies or homosexual thoughts" or words to that effect. this was in 86.

granted it was not a 'declaration' in the true sense of the word but I was certainly asked.

[RABC]

Did anyone actually listen to the interview on Radio 5 today. Everyone is banging on about the sexuality , but from what has been reported, this was irrelevant. The payment was by an Industrial Tribunal, and was for harassment. The amount was as ludicrous as that typist who got RSI, but of course the payscale has nothing to do with the (pathetic) calculations for those wounded in action.

If the harassment issue was proven, then what the hell was going on in that Unit, that it should have got as far as a Tribunal ??

Mind you - I have been out so long that I could not understand how a SNCO could deem it anything other than inappropriate to be sending lewd text messages to one of his soldiers !!

But I was left wondering if any other harassment / bullying case would ever get this far. Perhaps the fact that a gay person was involved meant that the MOD could tick yet another box afterwards and claim they are dealing with"diversity" . How many solicitors would support a straight soldier who wanted to take action against MOD - there would be no angle in that would there ??

[Herrumph]

What on earth possessed her to raise the subject again and make comments that would inevitably be condemned. The hue and cry over the size of her payment has only just calmed down. The views of an ex - LCpl hardly have any significance in the bigger scheme of things.

Can we assume a book deal is about to follow!