Military Q&A

[GingerWrath]

I am completely fucked off with the anti Military stance on this site, So AIBU to be wanting to set the record straight? Ask me a question and Military people and myself will try and answer (within the Official Secrets Act)

Myths like we get free houses, we don't. They are rented and mostly not great, families have been known to have medical problems because of damp. Another one, 'military families don't pay utilities', yes we do, at the same rate as everyone else! 'Military families don't pay council tax', Yes, yes we do, it comes out of our wage without any say in the matter!

As in forces sweethearts do you mean the website british forces sweethearts?

Sorry mandwa78 I think I just felt the OP was worded in a way that she was looking for a fight and I think if people want to ask questions about the military it should be put in a way that doesnt alienate people?

Maybe I'm just being sensitve :)

Yes Ginger - also apparently we get discounts everywhere and that the Naffi is heavily subsidised....not the case at all. The opposite in fact!!

I've said my bit... I'm leaving this thread now.
But I leave on this my brother, my father, my mother, my cousins (one of whom died on a tour of duty in Iraq), my uncles, my grandfathers, one of my grandmothers, one of my great grandfathers and many, many friends have all served and some continue to serve in the Army and the RAF. I don't expect everyone to appreciate them or respect them in their career choices, but I appreciate and respect them and am thankful to them and that to me is all that matters.

We all have our own way of taking things misery but I can tell you straight up she meant nothing by it x

I think people on the whole do support the military, but they are concerned about Afghanistan, and I think they have a right to be, and it is diffcult to see past that.

No I am not looking for a fight, quite the opposite, I am in a position to answer, very truthfully, sensible questions through very many years of experience. Nothing bad about that!

Very true blowhole but when the lads and lasses are told to deploy then they have to. At the end of the day they signed on the dotted line and have to do their job. God I wish the naafi was cheap lol

As an army wife we never got charged water rates! I often wonder why!

Mandwa78: Forces Sweethearts is a board on MN, under 'in the club' I think. Lots of the mil wives and SP post in there so they can avoid some of the shite out here (Esp when it's a forces specific ques/issue).

Naafi's are always Spars where I have been!! £1.98 for some Dorito's Salsa

Actually it might be more than that ......I hate Spar

We dont have a naafi near us!

Central payments ILT (it's a payback thing)

You are not missing much Misery!!

I struggle with the them and us attitude, mainly from officers wives. To clarify I live next door to one and 5 miles from another camp, both DD and DS have a large amount of military children in their school/preschool and it can get cliquey.

I rather liked the bit in WGBAP where it said that the NAAFI is entirely set up for unmatched soldier/sailors/airmen, so you will find every type of meat pie ever produced, but for women it's one size fits all on everything from tights to tampons.

I understand five - it is the nature of the beast. Everyone forms groups based on ranks, trades and squadrons etc.....Very cliquey and non-officer spouses can be made to feel ostracised.

I seriously wanted to debunk myths!, nevermind, I shall catch up tomorrow after I am not here to respond as I have a young family!

It can get quite cliquey tis true

My H was in a regiment where there were no state schoolers at all amongst the officers. It was hugely inbred, claustophobically public school, the leadership was dead stupid and I've never come across male chauvinism to rival it. I enjoyed my years in a way, largely because of a plum posting to the US. But life with the regiment was asphyxiating. The soldiers and their wives were far more interesting than the officers, who were almost all gits. Luckily I wasn't alone in thinking the set-up absurd, like minded wives made it tolerable.

That was !989 -1997, perhaps things have changed.

That should read claustrophobically and 1989, not 989....

Yes there have deffo been quite a few anti military threads!

2 that stick in my mind recently (ish) are the one where it was suggested that anyone in the military should not have kids, it was suggested that those that do are being selfish.

The other was the outcry about ex soldiers training to be teachers on the basis that they are thick thugs and trained killiing machines!!

Thats just 2 threads that instantly stick out in my mind but there have been others as well.

I also have to admit to inwardly smiling when the riots were on and some of the same posters suddenly wanted our thick thuggish selfish breeding soldiers to get on the streets and sort it out for them!!

my dh (sapper) calls the general public 'civillians'. he also uses the term 'civvy street' which is the twee - est expression imo and really irritates me. he has an awful lot of complaints about life in 'civvy street (vom)' which relate mostly to non army folk not thinking he is closer the god just because he is ex army. i dont uphold the complaints because dh has an extremely lucrative career which he has succeeded in because it is biased toward ex service folk - no need to join the masons - he was already in the door.

i digress.....i don't find mn wholly supportive or unsupportive of the military - just questioning which, sorry but this is my opinion, is what educated people do. i'm not representative obviously but i can't support anything blindly, whether it be the country or its forces. they are/its not an homogenous entity.