Don’t waste your breath anokdale, he obviously has a very loose grip on reality and what the armed forces do.
I can honestly say that I’ve done my absolute and very best in difficult places to improve the lives of some of the poorest and vulnerable people on the planet at that time. Can you say that mansonsoul?

mansonsoul, you’re either trolling, high or incredibly naive…

That World you want is what we all want but it is not going to happen, Backhander and fuzzywuzzy thanks, i allways say the Army i served in saved more lives than it took.

Work in the armed forces 😉 if you call it that lol apart from a few rough conflicts that were fun anyway I had a great time I was a signallar and mountain leader, did loads of skiing ice and rock climbing lots of time in Norway and bavaria also two long stints in sardegna to rock climb and drink.

Left and walked straight into a guiding job in the alps so it was good for that too. shame I decided the fire service was a good move and Left 🙁

Short term I’d recommend royal marines , long term I’d say royal signals then post to a commando unit best of both worlds

Echo above the do what you want not what careers office want you to do

My mate who is still in was goin to get out about three years ago but asked about flying and now he’s a helicopter pilot , admittedly he went straight out to afgan but he’s having fun. So lots of possibilities mate

Whilst I don’t agree with Mansonsouls’ comments I fully support his right to make them and to express such opinions; I served 18yrs in the Royal Marines and spent years of my life deployed on Operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Iraq in order to allow people like him to express such views in other countries not as stable and liberal as ours.
So crack on Mansonsoul because everytime I hear a statement expressed in the manner of yours it reminds me that the sacrifices I made (and thousands of others like me) were valuable and worthwhile. One day you’ll hopefully be able to see through the politics and media spin and appreciate the freedoms you have.

Firestarter – You have just said the Marines did not do much work 😆 As Ex Para Reg you have made my day. 😉

into de void, I’m ex-59 and was on some of those tours!

into de_void – Agree with what you said.

That World you want is what we all want but it is not going to happen

Call it naivety, that’s fine. It’s wishful, without a doubt. This attitude perhaps explains why it always will be nothing more than wishful thinking.

Backhander, I support some of Britain’s most vulnerable people every working day, and I do it without a gun in my hand, or billions of pounds of military hardware ‘helping’ them.

I stand by my assertion that it is soldiers, politicians and their ilk that cause the problems, not solve them.

Anokdale I wasn’t being specific I was covering all the forces in general its all relative depends on your version of work getting beasted on the hills and in snow is hard but fun digging in again hard but fun on reflection but its not the same as a real job in civvy street is it more a vocation

Ive done forces and mountain guiding and rigging and now fire service and rigging was real work but still not a dreary nine to five lol

That’s probably because you don’t need a weapon to do your job in the UK. I assure it was required in places like Sierra Leone and Bosnia. Maybe we should have sent social workers over instead?
I’m also quite happy for you to blame the politicians, but the voters should not escape blame either.

Nice one Firestarter good back track, now theres a word not to be used in jest “beasted” ouch !

Backhander like you said pal dont waste your breath.

Anokdale, you’re former Para Reg and yet you’ve just agreed with a Royal Marine…you’ve made MY day!

Backhander, please tell me you weren’t one of those loons who nearly killed half of Zulu Coy 45 Cdo when you set off an avalanche demo with way too much explosive up near Bardufoss in 94…if you are you owe me a beer and some replacement keks!

yep, smoke popped and BH bugged out.
into de void; not me honest 😀

into de void in all fairness i think he was not badged Royal, i : maybe wrong but just shows you i have lost my edge and become all civvy and fluffy and nice to folk. 😉

I stand by my assertion that it is soldiers politicians and their ilk that cause the problems, not solve them.

Fixed that for you. You are trolling; nothing more, and that line was designed to provoke, making it a very weak statement indeed.

I support some of Britain’s most vulnerable people every working day, and I do it without a gun in my hand

Do you effect change? If so, good. Are decisions made above your pay grade that fail to reflect the situation on the ground, by people with no understanding of what you have to deal with on a day to day basis? And does that frustrate you? I think you’ll find that your position parallels that of the regulars in our armed forces.

For the record, I don’t agree in reasons behind the conflicts we as a nation have participated in during the last twenty years, but I support every member of the armed forces that has done so.

Petesgaff, now theres a fellow who can battle.

Lol no not badged royal but a jumped up scaleyback 😉

The next question will be what is a scaleyback, i will let you explain that one.

Do it. iv’e been in the infantry 14 years and its the best thing i ever did. iv’e been to some great places and some real sh17 holes. (have just got back from afgan a few weeks ago). you’ll work with some of the best people in the country. cant reccomend it enough.

Lol I’ll leave that one mate 😉

I served in the Army for 12 years, best years of my youth. Was gutted when they disbanded 5 years ago, but we’d been doing much less by then anyway. But i agree with the sentiments, if it hadn’t been for the old guard giving all that they gave we wouldn’t have the freedom that we have now.

Been out a while now, (well 15 years), still miss it at times. Agree with what has been said about getting a trade, whichever service you join. Plus as said, just get through basic training and trade training, the real forces are nothing like that at all!
PS for those that want to extract the urine, I was a craphat medic, but met my wife who was a QARANC….Quick and Ready and Never Caught 😳

Hey all. Cheers for all the info. Quick update and the details as requested, Im 21 next month. Got 2 highers abduction 9 credit level standard grades.
To be honest the marines appeal more. The physical and mental challenges sound rather good. Took a trip to the careers office yesterday.
They didn’t suggest any roles! said to be a long waiting list for raf/navy trades. And having a proper look at various jobs I’ve realised the number of qualifications you can gain in the marines are also useful.

nice one mate you’ll not regret the forces what ever way you go 😉

Commando and para careers are available in other regt/corps than the para reg and RM. You can do both in various corps plus be an army diver in the RE and still get a trade (and blow up a lot of stuff). I’m not saying anything negative about the paras or marines, just explaining that you can still do the ally stuff and get a trade.

as back hander says too lots avail hence my recommendation of r.sigs for trades/pay if you plan on staying in a while as once trained lots of doors open up to you. my mate is still royal signals but is actually a cmdo trained helicopter pilot now 😉 lots avail once in its all down to you and what you aspire to. good luck fella

ah i see. I thought you meant you were a signaller in the marines! I’ll look at signals too.

ah no hence the scaleyback comment 😉 carrying far too much kit and a radioset on your back wreck it lol

depends really on what you fancy doing and what skills you have to offer as most regiments do trades that are good and most offer cmdo/para/sf unit options and all offer lots of outdoor pursuits courses too

you could work in mobile secure comms for instance but do it in a commando unit as a trained commando and also be an outdoor pursuits instructor , the world is your oyster as they say . lots of options

Fair play mate, get in see what you fancy and go for it, at least the banter will be good and most of us who were in will admit to missing that on the outside. Good luck, 21 you sprog, i had 58 pattern webbing, puttees, dms and an SLR at that age, gortex was a thing of the future and GPS, you dont need them the stars dont need batteries. 😉

anokdale did you ever get mess tins back into wet 58 webbing it was like a magic trick lol

firestarter – Member
anokdale did you ever get mess tins back into wet 58 webbing it was like a magic trick lol

Nope, me neither…

😐

im sure they were like those magic tent bags that once open no longer fit. a bit like sport billy’s bag in reverse 😉

Only got them in for bone inspections, you know the standby kit stuff, other than that used a Yank steel mug and a racing spoon 😉 did you ever have to have 6 six inch nails in your standby kit, never sussed what they were for, mind you most of your bootie kit would have consisted of female evening wear 😉

nowt wrong with wearing womens clothes lol. or as it happens getting naked on cue

I knew it, i spent some time with Royals doing stuff so yeah, maybe you should brief up the new guy, you know hard wearing tights and the like so he can be prepared.

i went out a few months back with some mates all ex 45 and i was the only one who thought they shouldnt still be wearing dresses 😉

And i bet you never went to Thailand on leave either, got to go another bone civvy H and S meeting, i jest not. Out !

lol my mate married a thai and always gets the third degree no one believes it when he says he met her there rather than the web 😉

enjoy the meeting