Next time you and your mates go down to the local Gestatte try not singing "two world wars and one world cup", don't keep reminding them who won the war and don't call them Jew burners, and remember that they probably understand what you're saying when you're on about sticking it up the bar maid's arrse.
Show them some respect and they may just warm to you!

Forks - if you are in Germany sign up for the courses and learn German. Speaking the local lingo even a little bit makes a helluva difference. Get a car and get the feck out of town and visit places - stay in a Gasty and enjoy.

Everybody goes through a sh1t period as you are doing - it will pass. Don't waste your time though - get qualifications.

And stop thrapping yourself to oblivion three times a day

Just accept it, no-one - outside your little world- gives a flying f.uck. If the general population think about squaddies at any time, other than Remeberance Day, they think 'Thick squaddie sh1t. Can't get a proper job, so join up ' I don't say that I agree with that sentiment, merely pass it on.

Anyone, in any job, even a King, gets peed off, fed up, hacked off (whatever term works for you) Even me, who gets paid for doing nothing. So, as was said earlier, dry your eyes and just get on with life.

stick with it mate- I can assure you civvy life is no bed of roses at the moment, and funnily enough no one but family/mates gives a fcuk about you 365 days a year , whereas at least you get a couple of days of being celebrated when serving!

Originally Posted by chocolate_frog

Originally Posted by Forks

The way I am treated and looked upon merely for my job. The times I have to hide the fact I am in the Army because of the preconceptions that people will make about me. If I go out for a night, I better make sure I hide my MOD 90 and use my passport for ID because they won't let me in otherwise. Growing my hair as long as I possibly can get away with because anything shorter is squaddie like and I'll get 'spotted'.

Yes this is the NAAFi and I expect to be given a hard time, but I am feeling rather disaffected right now and in complete doubt of my service to the country. People are happy for us to go and die in far away places yet they don't want to meet us at home, on the streets and on a night out.

The sooner I am out the better and the contempt I am feeling is only going to grow. Sorry, Britain, but you make me feel like a piece of sh-t and I can't take it. Oh great, the public will clap us when we march through the town on an armed forces day, but do they really want us?

Important thing to remember....

They are civvies, so by default they are sh1t.

And they know it.

Originally Posted by Samual Johnson

Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.

THe moment you put on the uniform for hte first time, you took 14 steps forward of the squad. And they are still in it.

THat premier division footballer with a page three model on his arm and more money that braincells? He's sh1t. ANd he knows it. That's why they cry when they lose.

The civvie lefty types that insults the forces, they do that because they are sh1t, and can't deal with the fact.

MPs that truffle in the trought, they are sh1t so make up for their lack of stature by claiming as much money as they can.

The bouncer who bars you at the door, is doing it because the only thing he can do is stand by a door. He's sh1t and he knows it.

Go out the spree and stand tall. You are better than they, by virture of the profession you lead. And that they are all sh1t.

Originally Posted by Theodore Roosevelt

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

If you have only just joined up, then it's just a bedding in you need. Don't expect civvies to applaud you just because you are going in the local bop.

You'll soon learn the above, that you are better than them, but don't get cocky about it. If you are in Germany, get out and enjoy.

Oh, and don't go out in squady towns. THe civvies hate squaddies more in such areas, because of he daily reminder that all civvies are sh1t. They resent it a bit.

Imagine having a bill board on the highstreet that says "people of XXXX - you are all sh1t and can't hope to achieve much in your sh1t lives". It wouldn't be appreceiated would it?

That is what soldiers are, and unobtainable goal set for civvies.

CF tells it like it is.
Get out there and enjoy it. Don't waste your time (and your life) worrying about others.
You've worked your bollox off to get where to you are and you then get knocked down but a few spineless civvies. Feck 'em!
Are they standing up tp the mark? No! Are they in a profession of the privliged few? No! They're civvies who think moral courage means handing in a lost wallet. Useless and undeserving.

If you're homesick, so what? As terroratthepicnic says, you'll find you nothing in common with your mates when you're home on leave. If you miss your family, then look around the block or in your Troop/Platoon, they're your family now.

Learn to think different. You not at home now or even in the UK. You're a soldier and you're living in mainland Europe. Visit, get around, because one day you'll leave and people will ask you what you did or saw when you were in Germany. Say 'I did nothing' and they'll picture you sat pished in the Naafi bar and they'll be right. Get out and sample the culture, it'll broaden your horizon and make for interesting conversation at camp or home. I did nothing in my first posting to Germany and regret it. I was very young and naive. When I went back for my second tour I was married and we did and saw everything.

However. . . As CAARPS has said, if you're expecting life to be all rosy and fluffy then think again. Man up or expect to be the Tp/Pln whipping boy who'll get it hard from everyone (and pun the is intended). Sympathy is somewhere between sh1t and syphilis in my dictionary.

It realy greaves me that these kid come on Arrse and big it up how much they want to be squaddy and how they will all fly through basic, and then reality strikes. And they find out just how tough life can be for a young bloke joining a unit for the first time. One of the blokes who joined my regiment from Junior Leaders had a very hard time mainly because he had been the JRSM at Bovvy, after about a year he went AWOL and comitted suicide shortly after. It takes dedication and a real need to make it as a squaddy,

Forks you mincer. The army is ace. I love it. Who gives a toss what civvies think. Your based in the land of cheap beer, fags and legal knocking shops. Man-up,grow-up and stop being such a waste of space.

Thanks, some good posts and good advice here. Just to clarify I've been in the Army just shy of 3 years, 2 of those in Germany and have experienced this treatment both home and away. Doesn't fill me with much hope for a longer Army career.

I do agree with most of what has been written here and maybe the problem is more to do with me.

Originally Posted by Slick-Rick

F**king hope the Andrew has more team spirit and comraderie than this when I go for basic.

Fuck off civvie.

Why do you give a toss what anybody else thinks about you?

If you said "I hate being a soldier.....

Because my living quarters are shite, because I'm not being paid what I'm worth, because if I go on tour one more time my marriage will break up, because I'm sick of pay as you starve, because I'm being treated like shite by my chain OC/CO, because I've got medical problems that are being ignored, because I'm sick of long tabs and kipping in cold muddy holes in the ground, because I'm sick of being mugged off and made to do Labour's dirty work."

Your attitude would be quite understandable.

What did you expect when you joined up; blokes slapping you on the back and buying you pints everytime you walk into a pub? Women getting on their knees and unzipping your fly every time they see your MOD 90?

Most of the public generally support the armed forces, but have never been especially especially appreciative of soldiers on a day to day basis; in British and German garrison towns this is often the result of generations of drunken squaddies breaking the place up and making complete nuisances of themselves.

If you don't like the reaction you're getting from Civpop go and spend your cash somewhere else. Or grow a thicker skin.