Thetownend.com

Just done a remortgage for a lad who has jus got back from iraq.Got paid a bit extra for going there so when i asked what his salary was i was fucking shocked.

£18k take home :shock:  this is seriously wrong

Fuck me did you not know that ?

I know someone that did

1 tour Iraq
1 tour Afghan
3 Tours NI
Help build a school in Jamaica
Guarded a place in Kenya against the Militia



£15K

FUCKING DISGUSTING

He's a plasterer now

I cant believe that mate.

And they wonder why the British forces are 6000 troops under staffed.

Manatees would do it for free y'know

nah, a manatees a lover not a fighter

if they did a sequel to top gun and then signed people up when leaving the cinema then that 6,000 short-fall would be solved very quickly.

just my opinion, like.

They don't need an awful lot of skill to earn £18k though, do they?

They need an awful lot of bravery and bollox to put your life down though!! you'd take home 15k a year working in a call centre reading from a script! It's just wrong

Brave=Paid more? Don't think so. The 'grunts' who do all the hard work are, in the most part, not skilled enough to get a job in a call centre. The Army gives them far more than £18k - they get a career for life, training to a very high degree, self control and discipline, self-respect and pride, and a number of hugely portable skills (like the ability to come quickly over a biscuit and to racially abuse corner-shop owners at will).

I'm going to assume this individual was fairly young & enlisted? If so, not exactly surprising tbh, but still shockingly low.

The individual is my son Coxy

and the 15K was his exit salary

I find that offensive Hans

All my son ever wanted to do was to enlist for the infantry.

He got the magic 5 at school, all with good grades.

He came out through his disillusionment of the hierarchy and went back to college and is now a tradesman.

I would hardly call him a "grunt"

Perhaps a straw poll on here to see how many are prepared to go out to Iraq or Afghanistan in the next three months and possibly lose their life (one reported dead in Basra this morning) would be interesting.  I, for one, would NOT want to go out there, not that there is much chance of that with my medical history!

It is stupidly low, but people still enlist and that's why it's not any higher.

I know it was very one sided but that part in Fahrenheit 9/11 when Moore goes to Flint highlighted how sad and exploitative the Army can be.

Actually there is a 3.1 % shortfall year on year on the enlistment figures.

Although I think that that has more to do with the following over the last 10 years ;

Iraq 1
Iraq 2
Bosnia
Afghanistan

The war against terrorism in general

Not skilled enough for a call centre?

Do me a favour. Next time you post, read what you've written first, then ask yourself: "Do I know what the fuck I'm talking about?". If the answers no, like in this instance, don't post it.

How much training is involved in working in a call centre?

judging by how helpful BT were yesterday not very. I nearly cried when the man asked me if my landline phone was 'turned on'. thought it might have been watching some phone porn or something.

Six of sons mates are serving in Iraq and Afgan at the moment, one went out to Afghanistan last month, he worked in the bank as a personal assistant until two months ago and has gone out after being calledl up (he is in the TA, two others also called up from joining the TA, which they all joined initially to keep themselves fit and knew this might happen one day) every time we hear news of more British deaths whilst serving with the British or Nato Forces it sends a chill down my spine.

I know that feeling well Dell

Here's hoping for safe returns for all

Indeed!

My friend is back from afghan for a couple of weeks soon, She has had to leave her 10 month old here with her mum cos she had to go for 6 months.

I have some American Airforce friends they get so much more than our lot. It's not right.

with comments like that mate can you kindly fuck off.

How offensive do you want to be

Im hoping that was tongue in cheek....if not, you sir, are a cunt.

Prick.


.

If it was tongue in cheek then it's no worse than anything else anybody has ever posted on the TEF.

Hippy

I've certainly posted worse. Both tongue in cheek and other times when I've just been plain offensive and people have presumed I was joking.

hahaha you fools.

Ben...Go play with your manatee floppy. :P

people that join the forces do so volountarily.yeah the pay isn't great but nobody makes them do it.
glad they do though as we'd be fucked without them.
incidently the yanks get paid highly in the army,but i think and ours puts theirs to shame.just goes to show how great our forces are really

don't they get all food,clothes,laundry bills, ski holidays and school fees or is that just officers?

Apologies to all offended by my comments above. It was a terribly weak attempt to crowbar in a joke about wanking over biscuits. No offence intended.

Thats what I thought....i'd be happy if after all my bills and expenses I had £18K a year left in my bank after tax!!

Is it just the higher officers that get all these things paid for then? If so thats not right but still I think for a young person joining, £18K is still not bad.

I had to work my way up from £11K when I started....albeit I didnt get shot at in my office so didn't quite require the same level of patriotism or bravery!

But still I got by and worked my way up the ladder and now I'm doing very well....surely the army lads have to do the same do they not? just with a few more work 'hazards' and a lot less job security

Whilst I think the armed forces do an invaluable job, one I undoubtedly would want to do for any salary, the wages are known before you sign up so like any profession I find it hard to accept complaints on salary.  If you want to do the job accept the conditions, if you don't want to work for that level of salary do a different job.

To be honest the army could offer me £100k a year to go out to Iraq and I'd still say no.  

£18k is really not that bad for a youngster.  

Fair play to them for signing up though, someones got to.

I started on 8 to 9k only 8 years ago   :oops:   Thankfully I'm on a hell of a lot more nowadays.

£1500 take home each month is quite good imo. Fair enough he's going to war etc, but he chose that career path.

IMO all key workers, force members etc should be on decent money. My mrs is a nurse, and they get fuck all.

A private in the Infantry, after training is on less than 15 grand a year.

Out of that he has to pay tax, NI and council Tax.

He is also charged for accomadation and food.

Correct Hertha

i think that is fucking wrong, pay them well!!! at least reward them for fighting for our country properly  :?

Without wanting to be called a cunt again,

A private is on £15k - what career progression would he/she have? It's my impression that there's pretty good chances to move up if you want it/you're good at your job/your dad knows someone.

and... (again a serious question) where would the money come from to pay these guys more? Taxes are already too high and Labour are already under pressure for the next election.

Finally - privates have to pay for their own accommodation? That is wrong.

let's not forget that they do get to shoot guns, and drive big fucking tanks though, don't they?

some people might say that the job the armed forces do is "fucking disgusting", and the pay is pretty reasonable. free travel to sunny climbs too. and as arriba says, nobody made them do it, i wasn't aware it was military policy to keep details of renumeration hidden until after service.

there are plenty of disproportionately paid jobs - teachers and nurses for a start, who deserve a rise way before them

Question - do they pay Income Tax & NI when they are serving overseas (Iraq/Afghan)?

Note that the US Forces DO NOT pay any taxes if they are ordered overseas to a war zone, which serves as an incentive to get them to go.

I agree that it is a very poor wage for such a high-risk job, but I have to agree with Hansgruber that there is no way they CAN be paid more. If they decided each member of the army should earn £2,000 more per year then taxes would surely have to go up and everybody would be complaining about it

I'm just hoping for a day when this issue becomes irrelevant because our contry is not at war. Seems a long way off though  :(

I wont call you a cunt but how many of these youngsters will progress once they have been to iraq.They will be dead or sent insane by what they have seen

Well they could make them Tax exempt when in combat situations.Though they might be anyway.

Unfortunately, they are not tax and NI exempt whilst on tour/ops, as they get paid onshore by HM Treasury. However, having said that they are privy to certain allowances whilst away.

BUT, those allowances are rolled in with their gross pay, which guess what.................................
























They get taxed on

Probably a fair point. Who knows? It's a horrible situation all round that's for sure.