3SA? Bunch of wimps, you want to be worrying about 5 Guards Army, that's who!

Originally Posted by cpunk

Originally Posted by asr1

All this "broken covenant" stuff has got me thinking. I get paid well, get enough leave, plenty of adventure training and sport and generally enjoy my life. I don't live in the mess (not enough space, SSSA instead which is closer to work and a lot more pleasant) but the standard of accommodation is very agreeable.

I've done two tours in the last 2 years and found the welfare packages to be well thought out and implemented where the situations allowed... etc etc

So, 'I'm alright Jack' would pretty much sum up your attitude then. Fine.

Excuse me for droping in but I presume you have asked your men how they feel. Perhaps you should look deeper than your own gratification.

Originally Posted by asr1

The standard of the kit and equipment I have now is so much better than 10 years ago...

I think you're looking at a very small part of what the 'Covenant' encompasses. It isn't just the immediate needs of the operational Armed Forces - which I agree are generally being addressed in the best way they can be - but the long-term duty to look after and reward those who voluntarily put their lives on the line for their country. We have a lot of aspirations in that direction but very little is actually done.

Originally Posted by asr1

The standard of the kit and equipment I have now is so much better than 10 years ago.

I presume you forget about those that have lost their lives over the last few years because the correct kit was not available for them.

I would also point out to the original poster that, as far as I can tell, he has not been in long compared to some of us. Life as a junior Officer might well be fine. Indeed he is on SSSA so living it large I would imagine. Life for someone with a family is somewhat different and the whole thing is a lot less fun on tour 4 than it was on tour 2. Add in the fact that the welfare system only really works if you make it easy for them by not needing to use it, or at least living really close to the Barracks. Throw in the fact that the salary isn't bad but the lifestyle wont allow your wife a decent job and houses these days require two good incomes. Chuck in the inability to get wife and kids on an NHS dentist list when you move every couple of years.

Not looking so rosy now is it?

There are a lot of things the Govt could fix virtually for free. Enforcing veterans right to jump NHS queues, giving priority to families of serving soldiers in choice of schools and dentists etc would actually cost nothing but a bit of paperwork. I am sure you can think of other examples where outlay would be minimal but political will does not exist.

Until the covenant is a legally binding document, it is worthless.

It is a good thing I work for HM the Queen and she, and the rest of the Royal Family, has always seemed to me to appreciate the Armed Forces. If it were not for that, and the fact that I cant actually think of anything else I could be bothered to do for a living right now, I would probably have left some time ago.

[quote="johnboyzzz"]OPERATIONAL
Afghanistan: 7,800
Bosnia and Kosovo: 300
Iraq: 4,500
UN missions: 300
NON-OPERATIONAL
Germany: 22,000*
Cyprus: 3,000
South Atlantic Islands: 1,250
Gibraltar: 340
Diego Garcia: 40
Northern Ireland: 5,000

How do I get DG??

How do I get DG?? [/quote]

"The British Representative, or BritRep, acts as the Commanding Officer for Naval Party 1002. Under his cognizance are the British customs personnel, Royal Overseas Police Officers (ROPOs) and a compliment of Royal Marines, who patrol and protect the entire BIOT."

I'm in the wrong job.

[quote="right-grumpy"]

Originally Posted by johnboyzzz

OPERATIONAL
Afghanistan: 7,800
Bosnia and Kosovo: 300
Iraq: 4,500
UN missions: 300
NON-OPERATIONAL
Germany: 22,000*
Cyprus: 3,000
South Atlantic Islands: 1,250
Gibraltar: 340
Diego Garcia: 40
Northern Ireland: 5,000

How do I get DG??

Join the RM! It is not recommended however:

"Diego Garcia is a narrow tropical jungle reef in the Indian Ocean, about 1,000 miles south of the southern India coast. Despite the tropical feel to the reef, this is no Margaritaville. It's more of a stationary aircraft carrier...Annual rainfall averages 102 inches with the heaviest precipitation occurring during October to February. Humidity remains high throughout the year and temperatures are generally in the upper-80's Fahrenheit by day, falling to the mid-70's by night. The almost constant breezes* keep conditions reasonably comfortable..."

Of up to 40 knots in typhoon season!

Originally Posted by Cuddles

Well I think the covenant has been broken for a lot longer than most people seem to imagine. It is the operational tempo which exposes that, the fact it was in pieces before hand was occluded by ski-ing, foreign travel and good (i.e. transferable!) training.

From the absolute equivocation over FEPOWs to the Gurkha pensions, from married quarters to military hospitals, successive governments have played fast and loose with the covenant. Lack of investment, indeed in some areas dis-investment, has been allowed to continue unchallenged or at least unchecked for thirty odd years. "We'll get by with whatever we are left" has been the mantra following successive options, defence strategies and doctrinal shifts.

It is now getting harder and harder to achieve, with regular and reserve forces. Frankly we in the Army have it easy compared to what our poor downtrodden nautical and avian friends get. Sea-time has become a joke. My naval friends are become as bank-managers in gold encrusted blue suits, my flying chums are often penguins more than eagles.

Some twenty odd years ago I went to many, many service weddings - a function of my age. Of those married in the mid eighties a substantial number have been divorced because following the drum got too much like hard work. One couple, admittedly he made the mistake of being one of half-a-dozen in his "skill-set", have had 19 postings in 15 years. Or rather he has, Jill gave up after number 14.

So the covenant is broken. Some like the originator of this thread have had a soft or at least bearable go of it (not decrying your two tours mate, good effort indeed). The majority have not, particularly those who do not see being in the Army as some kind of warrior-monk vocation. It isn't new, everyone remembers the strains for example that Grapple put on certain corps - particularly those idle horrors the RE and their oily fingured reprobate colleagues, the REME. However it is really biting all the time and "on the truck, off the truck" is fine for a while but as a way of life it sucks like Jordan (allegedly)!

What he said.

DG is year long tours, with one period of 2 weeks R&R. Posts are either RN or RM. If you're an ugly female then its a great place to be as you are guranteed to be shagged senseless. For the the rest its a year of DFAC food, not much to do and not much to see. I did a week there once and was going mad after 4 days.