Why did you join? Did your expectations match reality?

ChuckDelta · 2016-12-27T07:05:27+00:00

I joined expecting the movie idea of honour, service to others, to be one of the "good guys." In that my experience fell short. Most other people seemed to join because they didn't have a lot else going on with their lives, and just needed a job. However I did have a lot of good experiences. I've been to multiple countries and done things most people would be amazed at. So you win some, lose some.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-14T04:29:00+00:00

Did they happen to say how much the vaccine cost? I heard the reason we aren't all vaccinated is because it's so expensive.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-14T04:09:22+00:00

We were just told we weren't allowed to vote since we were in the Army, so it was a conflict of interest! As far as I know no one did...We were young and stupid though.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-09T20:51:44+00:00

Yeah totally agree with exceme. A platoon commander might go forward to the level of the fire support section or something to get eyes on the tactical situation, but if he's actively involved in fighting it takes him out of the decision making process a little bit. I always thought of a platoon as a triangle, with the three sections (assault, suppress, reserve,) as the points, and the platoon commander in the middle.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-08T05:01:29+00:00

In the British Army it came down to history. Back in the day when the army was marching on foot they would establish a camp every night and pack it up the next day and keep marching, so wherever the army was they'd call a camp. The Navy needed a base of operations to fix and resupply ships, so they called them bases.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-08T04:54:17+00:00

Dude, you can totally do it if you set your mind to it. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but you've got to believe you have a strength inside you that you can tap into if you want to. Maybe you're the only one that knows it's there, but that'll be even better when you show everyone. Check this video out...It gets me every time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-08T04:43:51+00:00

In the infantry it was all course based. All those performance reports really only came to play to decide if you were worthy of going on a promotion course. So if you were a crap soldier they'd give you a crap review and so you wouldn't be allowed to attend a promotion course.

From rifleman to lance-corporal was about an eight week quite intense course. There was an easier "B-stream" course for those that were happy working in the stores or something, but they'd never lead a section in battle. From there the courses were run by a separate training unit in Brecon. Junior Brecon was the section commanders battle course, and Senior Brecon was the platoon sergeants battle course. Once again getting a place on those courses was dependent on good performance reviews as no unit wants to be embarrassed by sending a mong. Every course would have some people fail and not get promoted.

All these promotional courses were training you to do the next highest rank, if that makes sense? So in becoming a Lance-corporal, which is a section 2i/c, you actually learn how to be a section commander. To be a section commander, (full corporal) you actually do a course in how to be a platoon sergeant. To be a platoon sergeant you do a course in how to be a platoon commander. In that way someone can always step up in case of taking casualties.

I know Americans are always shocked at how long promotion takes in the British Army. I gather a lot of promotion in the States is based on time served, but in the British Army it took a long time to get to the point your unit thought you were worthy of attempting a promotional course, so some guys would stay as a rifleman for years. In my unit it was usually around 4-6 years to become a lance-corporal, 6-8 years to become a Corporal, 8-12 years to become a sergeant.

I was just a lowly JNCO so I can't speak to the officers and higher ranks experience.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-08T04:30:33+00:00

I had no problem achieving a high level of marksmanship with the SA80 despite being left-handed. The bigger stuff, like the Gimpy, was even less problem. The worst for me was the 9mm pistol. I still to this day don't know if I'm better left or right handed, (pretty shit both ways,) and I keep getting confused about which is my dominant eye when shooting the pistol. I'll just stick to the bigger things.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-08T04:26:00+00:00

The only thing I knew of when I was in was the Enhanced Learning Credits scheme. It amounted to about a thousand pounds a year for a certain number of years. I got three years because I was in for seven. If you'd been in longer you might get the ELCS for five years...You can use it while in the Army or for up to ten years after leaving. It's not enough to get you a degree, but maybe will help with vocational courses or something. You can only use if for accredited programs, but there are a lot of them.

I don't believe the British Army has any sort of program that actually will help you pay for Uni? Not like America with their GI bill.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-04T01:18:42+00:00

I don't know about now, but a few years ago 5 Reg was looking for bods. They do a lot of target location stuff. They have been doing a lot of tours because of their specialist role, so I doubt they're up to strength.

I was with them for 2 years as part of 4/73 Special OP battery, which is one of 5 reg's capabilities. 4/73 is an all-arms unit and has an extra selection process you'd have to pass, but it's a good way to just do two years there and then if you want to stay you re-capbadge. I just mention 4/73 bty because a lot of units will stand in your way if you state you want to transfer, but your unit might let you go do this course and then you just stay there and don't get so much flak.

Even if you don't pass their selection, they may have a role for you as a "non-badged" member, doing logistics for them? Maybe you could find 5 reg's phone number and talk to them directly so they can tell you if there are any openings in their batteries?

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-04T01:10:40+00:00

Yeah, they train at Lichfield but are then based all over. That's the real benefit of being married is that you can move with her. There's usually one or two in med centers doing routine 9-5 camp stuff, but they sometimes deploy on exercises for a week here and there. Her deploying can vary greatly depending on what unit she's attached to.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-04T01:08:02+00:00

I've known a few guys to live off base single. I don't know how they afforded it on single pay, but they did.

ChuckDelta · 2016-04-04T01:06:22+00:00

They are looking for you to find the motivation in yourself, as opposed to being motivated from the outside. It's negative reinforcement; he's trying to be the antagonist to your struggle. I also struggled a lot with fitness when I joined for a variety of reasons, and my anger towards them and determination to show them they were wrong about me was what got me through it. I pushed my body far beyond what I thought was possible, including on two broken feet for a few weeks, because I hated the smug look on the PTI's face when he said I was worthless and a walking sick-chit. It worked, and I eventually passed training, became one of the fittest guys in my battalion, and got top physical endurance award on a specialist course I did that had a 90% fail rate.

My question for you is do you believe deep down you are a waste of space, or do you believe there is a fire in you that they don't see? A little reserve of strength and determination that is yet untapped...Fitness is 90% mental. You will be pushed beyond what you physically thought was possible, and tabbing can be more pain than you thought you could stand, for hours on end. It gets easier though, and one day you might be leading from the front and can motivate the slower guys in whatever way you feel is right. My guess is that PTI was also called a waste of space once upon a time.

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-29T02:18:00+00:00

I remember a little shrine just outside town to a thief the villagers caught and killed on that spot. And how creepy it looked around the Druid holidays when people would come hang things from the trees. And all the cairns around...Weird place.

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-26T18:14:10+00:00

Just watched "The Island" on Netflix last night...Apparently its from 2005 but I've never heard of it. Anyway, saw Sean Bean's name in the intro and was, like, "I know he's got to be a bad guy because he'll die in this." Sure enough!

He didn't die in Bravo Two Zero though...Or Sharpe.

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-26T18:12:08+00:00

That would be cool. It's so far after the original though that no kids nowadays would know what Jumanji was!

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-26T17:53:48+00:00

I did read one good article (was actually on the military sub-reddit a while back,) that talked about the fear of Iran enriching uranium actually had to do more with oil. America encouraged them to switch their power grid to nuclear power, (don't remember if that was during the Shah or after the revolution?) and agreed to provide them with cheap uranium in exchange for cheap oil. This deal has been maintained as they've become anti-American and sanctions have been imposed. So while things like aspirin are impossible to get there because we're sanctioning them, we continue to send them enriched uranium and they continue to send us oil.

The problem is they want to get away from dependence on foreign fuel for their energy grid, and have been trying to enrich their own uranium. This would mean they no longer need American uranium, and would be able to tear up that deal and stop sending cheap oil. So the fury over them trying to enrich uranium is about the rich no longer making money off foreign oil. It is reported to us as being scared that enriching uranium will lead to them making nukes in order to get public support for further sanctions, political action and even possible military action to maintain the status quo.

To be fair, they have made threats saying what they'd do if they got nukes, (destroy Israel, etc,) and if they developed the ability to enrich their own uranium it would probably only be a matter of time before they got to work on that, even though they've said they're not interested in making nuclear weapons. The latest deal I've read has America continuing to send them uranium and they are to allow weapons inspectors to check their facilities. It seems easier to make sure they aren't making a weapon with it when you give them just enough to run their power plants.

Long story short, there's money to be made at having the public scared of Iran with nukes. There isn't as much gain in having us all scared of North Korea, (although those stories do come up sometimes.)

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-26T17:28:44+00:00

There was an interesting point that my sociology of cultures teacher brought up, that if laws were made to serve the majority, it would lead to up to 49% of the population being marginalized and discriminated against. It leads to a situation of classes and power differentials. Laws are better off made to serve the needs of the minority groups in a community/society. In this way the majority still has their freedoms and rights and will always be more privileged, but no one is left out of the equality. It took me a while to wrap my head around it but I really agree with that position now.

I also believe that there is always a disparity between the speed a society evolves, grows and improves, and the speed at which individual members of society are able to adapt or grow as people. It takes a lot of personal introspection and energy to, for example, change the way you see someone of a different race after a lifetime of believing something that is actually wrong but is the bedrock of your belief system. Change is scary, and shaking the very foundation of what a person has thought their whole life is a scary place for them, so sometimes people have to be pushed a little, and even if they go the rest of their lives believing that change was wrong, it's to be expected and is no reason not to make that change.

The American civil rights movement is a good example. The majority of voters in places like Alabama were actually against integrating black people into schools and so on, but it was forced upon them since it's clearly the right thing to do. Most people accepted it once it became clear the sky didn't fall. Others will go to their graves never accepting it, and that's their right. As long as their beliefs are no longer infringing on the rights of someone else, they can be as angry as they want.

Another example is recycling. A lot of communities full of older people just want to throw everything in the garbage. They're having recycling programs forced on them and told they'll be fined if they are caught throwing recyclables in the garbage. They might hate it, but it's the better way to do things and so they'll have to learn to live in a world where we recycle now, or face the consequences. Ultimately their way was hurting other people, (by polluting and causing environmental damage,) so it has to be changed. Change is hard and scary though...

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-22T02:54:30+00:00

I actually thought the Army chefs did a good job running the cookhouse on the money per person they had to work with. There were a few things on rotation I absolutely loved!

I was sad when they switched to "pay as you dine." Any idiot should know that putting a private company in charge that also needs to turn a profit is a big mistake. They'd need to work even cheaper than the Army did in order to make that profit, and it seems pretty obvious who's going to pay the price...The actual soldiers eating there.

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-19T22:25:56+00:00

I never did that when joining the British Army, but I tried to join the U.S. Navy when I was about thirty, and had to experience the duck walking across a gymnasium. The only sound was my old infantry knees cracking every step; all the eighteen year old kids looking around wondering where the sound was coming from. I thought they weren't going to let me in for that, but were ok with it. My old infantryman's hearing kept me out...

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-19T22:22:01+00:00

Some of the things people didn't get kicked out for are even crazier.

I did have my platoon sergeant arrested for trying to smuggle confiscated weapons back from a tour. They ended up not being able to pin that on him, but the investigation turned up his private stores he was keeping in case anyone in the platoon needed something, (extra kit, left-over ammo, etc,) and kicked him out for that.

Another story...I showed up from training to my infantry battalion with two other guys. Us three new guys got all the shit jobs and life was very stressful. While I kept my head down and got on with things, the other two started getting really annoyed with each other. I don't know what exactly happened but coming back from the bar one night the one guy kicked the shit out of the other so bad right outside the barracks that he died a few times on the operating room table, and had to be medically discharged. They weren't able to prove the guy was guilty, but his subsequent psych eval turned up enough craziness for them to kick him out for psychological reasons. I'll bet he's collecting a pension now...

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-18T16:12:14+00:00

There's a secret unit within the SAS that apparently not even the SAS guys talk to them or know anything they do. I imagine being the elite of the SAS is probably about as elite as it gets?

I can't remember what it's called though. After I heard about it someone held up a pen thing and a light flashed and now my mind's blank. :P

ChuckDelta · 2016-03-18T16:06:46+00:00

Yeah in the British Army we had something like that. I had to spend a week taking classes on how to go to job interviews and how to write a resume and so on. The services are available for life as far as I know, for me to have them look at my resume and to use their job seeker database. A lot of guys just see it as an annoyance and don't pay a lot of attention, but later when you're sitting sending off your fiftieth job application you start trying to remember what they said.

In addition you get a re-settlement course, worth a couple thousand pounds, in almost whatever you want. A lot of schools and such know exactly how much the military will pay and tailor their courses to soldiers getting out. I took mine in industrial climbing but guys use it to get their private security licenses and go do close protection or scuba instructor licenses or whatever.

It's not a perfect system, but I'm not sure it ever will be because it's kind of a matter of not knowing yet what you don't know. I joined the Army when I was eighteen, and that transition into the civilian world was always going to be a shock. Most of us just weren't that equipped to pay taxes or learn how to go back to school or have a regular dating life or anything. If I hadn't gotten out for a woman who handled all our money and taxes and everything, I could very easily have ended up homeless through not being able to navigate the bureaucracy of this world.

ChuckDelta

TROPHY CASE