Got asked this last night,to do with all the flooding its took nearly 2 months before the squaddies got called out to build bridges, man pumps, help the public etc.

The woman who asked me as if i had an answer,seemed to think they did basic training then just slept and got drunk when not on some base.

So what does a soldier do on a base when not marching, shooting guns, and polishing painting stuff anfd how come theyre not called out straight away in a civil emergency.

They mobilised as soon as they were asked for. It’s not taken them two months to prep for it.

They spend their days practicing for conflict and cleaning stuff.

Train mostly, fitness and military skills also recruitment work, public duties, guarding the base. Civil emergencies are the responsibility of the civil authorities not military authorities so will always be a last resort.

They waterski a lot.
Or at least they did on the telly recruitment ads when I were a lad.

When I was in it was training, duties, admin, maintenance of equipment and camp. Very little time left over for sitting about twiddling thumbs whilst you waited for something to happen. I imagine even less free time now.

Drink heavily and then assault homeless people if the ones in my nearest city are representative.

When I was in it was training, duties, admin, maintenance of equipment and camp. Very little time left over for sitting about twiddling thumbs whilst you waited for something to happen. I imagine even less free time now.

Sounds like, ‘kept busy’ – rather than anything meaningful 🙂

Depends on the cap badge. Not sure about other cap badges but my guys are kept very very busy with equipment maintenance & repair; admin; sport; prepping for exercise; going on exercise; career development courses etc. The more senior you get, the more paperwork & reports dominate your every waking moment though. There’s always more than enough work to be doing and not enough time. That said, they still find enough time to get up to mischief…

The MoD will charge the Local Council for anything they do. They are not cheap either.

They should be called into any type of disaster recovery in this country IMO, oh and free of charge as we pay them to do **** all as it is.

Train & practice, yeah right, get them clearing stuff and making do that’s all the practice they need.

Check & test, check & test
Pretty much what we used to do..

yossarian – Member
Drink heavily and then assault homeless people if the ones in my nearest city are representative.

🙄

Really.

Something like 65% of the homeless are ex squaddies, so I’d be surprised..

65%

Really.

And yes, the last incident I witnessed involved 2 soldiers walking past a man begging. They swore and spat at him. When he stood up one of them punched him so hard he lost consciousness and fell backwards hitting his head on the kerb. He started fitting and was attended by a couple of bystanders and me.

We practice and train for war riot control cover fire strikes fuel tanker strikes group 4 olympic cock ups and play sports.

Go out drinking cause trouble, trash the toilets on your premises and then threaten to beat you up because you confront them over it. They then threaten to smash your pub up when you refuse them a drink, which is when you point out there is CCTV everywhere and you will not hesitate to show their CO. They also seem to have the attitude that because they fight for your country they can trash it. I’m hoping this isn’t representative of all squaddies but it’s pretty much what I see every time they’re out in groups drinking round my city.

Grub you should speak the the co and get a number to get rmp to your bar whenever that sort of thing happens. Should see that sort of behaviour stopped no excuse for it.

I’d imagine the assumption is the same as it is for us.

If I was too say the all too common assumption for us was to play cards, drink in the bar and sleep before going off to our second jobs I’m sure you can guess.

Any government department civil or military will be running extremely lean currently, the government want their pound of flesh, anything else is described as ‘slack’ or ‘excess’ etc etc

I’d imagine training, training and more training will be punctuated by assessments and preparation for them, maybe topped off with some new innovative guff that will earn someone up the ladder a gold star. And occasionally, you’re required to actually do the job you do all that perpetration for.

And yes, the last incident I witnessed involved 2 soldiers walking past a man begging. They swore and spat at him. When he stood up one of them punched him so hard he lost consciousness and fell backwards hitting his head on the kerb. He started fitting and was attended by a couple of bystanders and me.

I suppose its similar to the attitude “I saw a cyclist jumping a red light, weaving through people crossing the road then cutting down a footpath so all cyclists are ****”

So what does a soldier do on a base when not marching, shooting guns, and polishing painting stuff and how come theyre not called out straight away in a civil emergency.

Marching, Shooting – Training
Polishing – Making sure all their kit is 100% ready

^^ Fair play to me. Short of sending them out to start a war I can’t really see what else they can do.

the last incident I witnessed involved 2 soldiers walking past a man begging. They swore and spat at him. When he stood up one of them punched him so hard he lost consciousness and fell backwards hitting his head on the kerb

Well that’s 2 soldiers then, and they sound like proper shits, but it’s quite an extrapolation to say the rest of the 100,000 are doing that. Given the predominantly young and male demographic I doubt the army causes any more aggro than their civilian counterparts.

Anyway, when not on active service they’ll be training, maintaining, sportsing and a fair bit of skiving and loafing. Again, just like their civilian counterparts. And they don’t get called out straight away every time there’s a civil emergency because we have adequate civil resources to deal with most things, and because it’s not what they’re trained for.

project, just tell the stupid woman, no matter how many sandbags are filled and stacked, with the amount of water falling from the skies, anyone trying to stop the flooding is on a loser.

no idea, but probably costs the taxpayer a fortune 🙂

anfd how come theyre not called out straight away in a civil emergency.

🙄
Possibly because, under most circumstances, the civil emergency services are already there, and have the manpower and equipment to deal with the situation; that is, after all, what they’re there for.
However, the situation on the Levels has everyone stretched to the limit, so the military have now been taken off standby and brought in to add muscle and logistics.
Something I’d have though anyone actually watching the news could work out for themselves.

the only currently serving soldier I know seems to spend a lot of his time organising the best MTB enduro series in the SE of England.

you might ask a searching question of the raf.. 45000 folks in uniform 280 combat planes 520 training planes inc. 91 gliders for air cadets..

what on earth do they do all day long

The US Navy seems to have more ships than the RAF has planes.

you might ask a searching question of the raf.. 45000 folks in uniform 280 combat planes 520 training planes inc. 91 gliders for air cadets..

Don’t forget the AEF planes that the propellers keep falling off.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/08/soldier-sues-ministry-defence-bullying-army

From my experience of some squaddies when not on deployment, shag other squaddies wives, get drunk, avoid anything work related, playing games on consoles that consist of shooting characters and blowing stuff up, drive like arseholes as they are invincible because they survived a tour and…cheat on their wives and abandon their family…. But then I have a biased view and insight!

I think Kipling had it right regarding the relationship between the public and those in the armed forces:

I WENT into a public ‘ouse to get a pint o’ beer,
The publican ‘e up an’ sez, ” We serve no red-coats here.”
The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I:
O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ ” Tommy, go away ” ;
But it’s ” Thank you, Mister Atkins,” when the band begins to play
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it’s ” Thank you, Mister Atkins,” when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but ‘adn’t none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-‘alls,
But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls!
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ ” Tommy, wait outside “;
But it’s ” Special train for Atkins ” when the trooper’s on the tide
The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide,
O it’s ” Special train for Atkins ” when the trooper’s on the tide.

Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap.
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an` Tommy, ‘ow’s yer soul? “
But it’s ” Thin red line of ‘eroes ” when the drums begin to roll
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s ” Thin red line of ‘eroes, ” when the drums begin to roll.

We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;
While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an` Tommy, fall be’ind,”
But it’s ” Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind
There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
O it’s ” Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind.

You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an` Chuck him out, the brute! “
But it’s ” Saviour of ‘is country ” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An ‘Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool – you bet that Tommy sees!

Well put BigEaredBiker, and i think you can probably extend that to most that wear a uniform in our society these days, and i say that from nearly twenty years combined service in both military and civil uniforms.

In my regiment (infantry) this is a general day to day. Start at 8 oclock Physical training and lessons / training before lunch. After lunch generally consists of equpiment care and administration. With a finish time of around 5 oclock

Sister’s other half was a Para.
There are shirkers in every type of work, the army is no different.

However if you want to make a career of it you can spend the entire day engaged on physical activities on a personal fitness level, group activities and drills for combat situations and then stretch the mind a little and learn virtually anything in the army if you have the aptitude for it.

Officers will do their best to keep Privates busy as it keeps them sharp for when they get deployed, which happens with increasing frequency at the moment.
Maintenance is a large part of a Squadie’s duties because kit and equipment kept in top order will save your life in a battlefield situation.

There are bad apples everywhere, most of the ones I know are top blokes though.

Same as they did before your, ” war “, and before you and your great, great, great …….grandfather/grandmother was born, try it you might like if.

Not sure about the Army, but I do know a fair bit about the Navy as I’m responsible for a team of Civvy Engineers who work on Navy Ships maintaining and repairing refrigeration and air-conditioning kit.

When not on deployment the Navy spend their time cleaning, doing endless combat/fire/flood/disaster recovery drills, escorting and working with contractors, and generally running the ship – which involves a lot of ‘lifting and shifting’ or ‘humping and dumping’ as we call it.

There is also a lot of skiving and loafing. every time you enter a compartment on a Navy ship, there will be a Navy rating, hiding away playing angry birds on his phone.

They do a lot of training. I’ve interviewed a couple of ex-Navy Engineers who had ring binders full of certificates, for everything from diesel fitting to running sewage treatment plants.

Think of the services like a separate community. You have your percentage of service persons who will cause trouble, skive off and be that admin burden. You also have the percentage that will do what they are told and do what’s needed to keep the seniors happy and just get by kind of like the “grey man” then you have the percentile that work their balls off, do as much as they can, get on any and every course to improve themselves and therefore whatever service they are in. They will do voluntary community work and strive for promotion.

What I am trying to say is people only remember the negative things but there is a lot more to it than that. You can see just from reading the above replies who is serving, has served or has close family that is in uniform vs Joe public.

frapping off to pictures of the queen?

They cost a fortune?

Worth their weight in the finest Gold too when we need them.

Much like the Police when the riots kicked off really bad/spread.

…sort of ignoring the police’s role in the origins of the London riots there.

To some posters on here, next time you have contact with some, squaddies, ask them if you can attempt the three man lift, that should give you a greater affinity and understanding of service life. 😈

I imagine that a vast proportion of their work on the Somerset levels is purely symbolic. Other than moving people around there’s not a lot that can be done that isn’t covered by the civil contingency. Sandbags are for blocking doorways and small gaps, deploy on them on an industrial scale is unfortunately just being seen to be ‘doing something’.

Sending more people to wade around waist deep in foul bacteria loaded water and driving big wake causing vehicles around might be introducing more risk than it solves.

I think we need to define what “The Army” is… It’s a big company, with very definite distinctions between the Infantry Regiments, and the Corps (RE, RAMC, REME, AAC, RLC, etc).

The Regiments are war fighters, and when they’re not fighting wars then they’ll be training for it.

The Corps are more like the RAF, in that even in the UK they’ll still have work to do, in support of overseas Ops / Exs, maintenance of equipment for the wider Service community, support to civil emergency services…

Who do you think the civvi police call when they find an bomb in a city somewhere (which happens a lot more than you’d like to think)? They’ll call in the Military.