Leaving the army questions

LouisCoco

My husband's in the Army, and we live in Northern Ireland. At the moment it's tough as he's training to go to on tour, but there is no way I would want him to leave as he'd never find as well paying a role elsewhere. ( I work in recruitment and everything is scarce!)

gibboelli - we've not had any problems over here at all. We just tell everyone my husband's in the civil service, or that we moved over for my job.

Hope it all goes well for you both.

bumblebeebaby

i too have served over 3 1/2 years in NI so i know the score, as for getting shot in a war zone yes i deff agree with that but at the end of the day he joined infantry so his job is to go out on the front line. there are plenty of other jobs the service can offer that are not as risky. I was only saying that the chances of him getting a job that pays the same will be pretty slim in todays economy and i know how most squaddies !!!! their money up against a wall by day 5 of the month. Like i said the army isnt for everyone, but for my situation i couldnt afford childcare, mortgage, utilities on a single wage of 13k if i got out.

RainbowBrite_3

bumblebeebaby wrote: »

much as i know the army isnt for everyone i do find it strange that people still sign off in the current economic state. The army does offer job security that doesnt seem to be currently available in civvi street. Then again there is no where i could find a job that would pay me 30k a year for the clerical quals the army has given me, a pay cut of more than half my income would kill me.

Im with you on that one - my hubby has been told to stay in for as long as he can. To be honest I dont know how he would cope in civvy street

GPedro

LouisCoco wrote: »

My husband's in the Army, and we live in Northern Ireland. At the moment it's tough as he's training to go to on tour, but there is no way I would want him to leave as he'd never find as well paying a role elsewhere. ( I work in recruitment and everything is scarce!)

I would agree with you, but for many in the military (including me) the cut in pay would be worth it just to be able to do a 'job' and not having the lifestyle that goes along with being a squaddie.

For what it's worth, I got a civvie job on the same money when I left the army 7 years ago. I'm now earning triple what I was, and don't have to worry about 6-month enforced 'holidays'. It's not impossible.

Oh, and I don't know if rules have changed, but I got around £1100 resettlement grant for 5 years service in a technical trade. My pension is index-linked and preserved until 60 with a lump sum of 3 times annual pension.

gibboelli

A plus note, my fiancee managed to get his CO to agree to getting him on a nursing course as he's interested in being a Medical technician. His other ambition is for the fire service but he's not unrealistic, he figures the more training he has, the better the chance of him getting a job.
As for the whole pay issue, he's rather be bankrupt but with me then staying any longer in the army. He's done his bit now, he's been to Iraq, he's had enough and wants to start his life properly now.

RainbowBrite_3

We've been married for 13 years and my life has been fine being married to a soldier.

You seem to have a bleak picture of it if I do say so myself and thats really sad - the benefits far outweigh the rough bits.

But as Cindnsteve suggested he should go see his RCMO and the Education Centre and the Resettlement Clerk/Officer to see what he can get to do.

GPedro

RainbowBrite wrote: »

We've been married for 13 years and my life has been fine being married to a soldier.

You seem to have a bleak picture of it if I do say so myself and thats really sad - the benefits far outweigh the rough bits.

But as Cindnsteve suggested he should go see his RCMO and the Education Centre and the Resettlement Clerk/Officer to see what he can get to do.

I think it's a very individual thing - I certainly don't regret my time in the forces, as it gave me the motivation to make a proper go of it in civvie street. I still believe that the sacrifices far outweigh the benefits until you get a few rungs up the ladder. Unfortunately, I didn't make it very far before realising that it wasn't for me.

Congratulations on having been happily married for as long as you have but, in my experience, a marriage such as yours is the exception rather than the rule.

I'm happy for you that the benefits are worth the sacrifices, but I think that's rare.. especially where there's family or young children involved. I do have a bleak picture of life in the forces, but that's purely based on my own experiences.. I accept that other people's experiences may differ

Oh, and well done to gibboelli's oh for getting a course sorted

Ms_Chocaholic

I too have a bleak picture of life in the forces, but I think this is partly due to what job you do whilst you are in.

My OH was in for over 20 years and was away lots and lots, compare that to a friend's OH who in over 20 years had two tours away from home. She will have looked at forces life as far more rosier than me, yet she even complained when he went away on tour :mad:

gibboelli

Yeah, I have a bleak picture because of how my other half feels, if he's unhappy it makes me unhappy. Not sure I could really think of any benefits to be honest! I just want my fiancee to be happy and I know he's terribly unhappy at the moment. He's come to a point where he wants to settle down and have roots, not being carted all over the world at a moments notice, I think being in Iraq changed alot of his future career ideas and made him decide he'd had enough of the army and I want to do everything in my power to help him along the way.

reddoggybag

As he has served under 6 years he will only be entitled to a one day visit to see a CTP consultant, he does however need to register for resettlement to be entitled to this. There are some good websites out there a excellent one is http://www.civvystreet.org/ where he can register and get help with CV's etc also http://www.ctp.org.uk/ctp/serviceleavers/continued-support/related-sites has links to the pathfinder and quest magazines among other things, which are magazines specifically designed for service leavers. I would suggest he goes to see the Resettlement Advisor on unit and make a appointment to see the IERO. Hope this helps and good luck its a tough world in civvy street at the moment x