I get the impression that there’s a lot of variation in experience depending on the culture of the unit you end up in, and what issues you (or others) take into the army with you.

Two very bad examples I’m aware of both relate to guys who joined up mid to late 90s, so things may be somewhat different.

The older brother of a school friend joined up aged 18 and was bullied horrendously from day one by a group of other recruits. He ended up killing himself with his own rifle. His brother ended up a bit messed up as a result, not only of the suicide, but of the protracted Court process which followed. Ultimately, this found in the Army’s favour, i.e. that they hadn’t failed in any duty of care.

The other instance relates to a friend of mine who joined up at 18 and served for about 5 years. He was a bit of a tearaway beforehand – liked a drink, got in a few fights, bit of a shagger, but fundamentally a likelable, clever, funny guy. He ended up serving in the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, and I think it was just a very toxic environment for him, i.e. a bit of a drinking/fighting/shagging culture that brought out the worst in him. When he came out, he was basically an alcoholic, had a horrendous attitude to women, and appeared totally traumatised. He was very hypervigilant, not as a result of combat (he was never in it) but as a result of all the fights he’d witnessed/been involved in. He came out with staggeringly racist attitudes too, which appeared from his description to be part of the culture of that unit too.

N.B. I know of others who’ve had much better experiences than the above, some still ongoing. Just musing on what would be foremost in my mind if I had a child intent on joining up.

You’re still using the “we’ve got it, so we may as well use it” argument. My argument is the humanitarian stuff the military does is great, and we should definitely keep doing all that stuff, but it can be done better and more cheaply by civilians.

Personally, i don’t believe so. If you employ a few thousand civilians, equip them with aircraft, aircrews, ships, engineers, medical personnel, logistics infrastructure, their own training system, force protection and everything else you need to sustain them, then it’ll start looking a lot like a military force. It will be very expensive, and they’ll spend the vast majority of their time training, or standing by to respond.

I respect your position, but i don’t think it’s realistic.

oldgit – Member

He had his job less than a year. He was installing LED screens, sound systems and temporary wifi at clubs, exhibitions, indoor and outdoor concerts.

Going right back to page 1, this is usually a pretty in demand skillset, especially if he’s doing more than just rigging someone else’s kit. Is it something he’s considered sticking with or is this a chance to also break from a path he wasn’t keen on?

(my bro is self-employed, doing conference av and hires, it’s hard graft and can be pretty seasonal but it’s worked really well for him.)

The military is an honourable profession, which unfortunately is frequently dishonourably used by our politicians.

True.

I was an Infantry officer and was staggered by the institutional snobbery, racism and sexism. I think that this is fairly well constrained to the teeth arms though, rather than the support arms, where your technical competence, rather than which school you went to matters.

This may have changed in the last few years, but I would want to know how much it had changed before either of my boys went anywhere near the Army (not for a while yet).

To the OP, your lads qualifications and intelligence will be tested pretty thoroughly if he makes enquiries, which will allow an assessment to be made as to whether he is suitable for officer training, or which branch of the Army he may be suitable for. Ideally he can get straight in to a more technical corps, which should allow him to get some amazing training and qualifications. If not though, and he is able to gain the additional qualifications in order to get into the REME, RE, RSignals (or equivalent in the RN/RAF), then I’d recommend going away and getting those qualifications if they are within his grasp. Inter-corps/arms transfers are pretty rare and exceptional.

Ahem…not very often an officer will say something worthwhile! But the above post is in my humble opinion good advice!

Yes I have two sons and also endured 8 years I the Infantry!

Ex vehicle electrician then electronics technician in the reme. Served 9 years, now an civvie atco so work with the RAF a lot!

I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for the quals I got through the army.

I loved it as I got a sack full of adventure training quals but I was itching to try something new.

Most of my mates are now artificers and they’re chat is that reme is going down the pan moral wise. Most are itching to leave and ones even going commission in the AGC to get away from it.

I’d look more to the RAF or navy for technical trades these days but I’ve been out of the loop for 8 years now.

I know quite a few ex-service people and we’ve employed a few at work – they all seem very switched on and capable, so I’d have no problem with my offspring joining (not that we have any yet).

Oh the bombs to ploughshares argument – like the millions they pump into DFID that is spent on overseas “consultancies” who advise foreign governments on getting direct overseas investments of which a significant proportion goes directly into the pockets of corrupt government officials all for the sake of an arbitrary 3% target.
Expensive defence jobs? UK defence employers who pay high levels of corporation tax and whose workers pay UK income tax or overseas domiciled corporates like Starbucks who pay a pittance in corporation tax, pay UK workers minimum wage subsidised by taxpayer-funded benefits.
In my ideological youth I saw it differently, and certainly my views of the Services – but having worked closely with the military in many countries they have higher moral standards than those in others like finance, oil and gas…