Tories are certainly getting stuck into our benefits system...

mitchaa

StevieJ wrote: »

Do all the military get shot at? I don't know if it is true but it seems the lower the pay after training the more likely you are to be shot at :eek:

The risk is there for every single person setting foot in Afghanistan from your hardened SAS soldier to the RAF chef as to get into Afghanistan you need to fly there To get around Afghanistan, i.e transfer from Kandahar to camp bastion in helmand you travel by road or by chinook.

Yes the aircraft are regularly shot at and yes CB and Kandahar regularly get mortared.

Although the chef may not pick up his SA80 and fire it in anger, he may well get shot out of the sky travelling to and fro or be hit by an IED when travelling by road.

Significant risk even though perhaps directly not involved.

pop_gun

carolt wrote: »

you don't want an army of 60 year olds with dodgy knees and arthritic elbows etc do you?

never watched dad's army did you?

chucky

mitchaa wrote: »

The risk is there for every single person setting foot in Afghanistan

do all the army go to Afganistan?

carolt

pop_gun wrote: »

never watched dad's army did you?

I think they were volunteers...

pop_gun

mbga9pgf wrote: »

I think you will find that the military pension is one of the few civil sector pensions that have similar contributions to the private sector (7%). But why help frothing private sector preconceptions get in the way of a good story hey?

I will also think you will find the private sector is actually paying for an insurance policy, one which does far more than afghanistan. Know much about global piracy? Want to hazard a guess as to how much the private sector relies on anti piracy measures with us being the 5th largest exporter in the world? How about aid for countries hit by disaster? Or defence diplomacy.

Of course, stuck in your office paying your tax, you would know ALL about this wouldnt you? Most of what we do you dont even see. Doesnt mean it doesnt add real value for the private sector in the UK though. It does.

how comes you're whinging about private sector pension contributions being in line with your own public sector one. surely you weren't expecting a final salary pension with all the trimmings

wait a minute. didn't we dump our sewage waste off african coasts and destroy their livelihoods forcing them to become pirates?

when you talk about defending the private sector are you refering to the fact we're the 5th largest arms exporter?
with india being the largest importer (figures off wiki, so salt pinch of) aren't we (metaphorically speaking) in afganistan ideally placed to sell 'direct' as it were, to our biggest potential customer. no doubt some that finds it's way back into afganistan and taliban hands.

it's a good job they don't pay you to think.

pop_gun

carolt wrote: »

I think they were volunteers...

it was a joke. volunteers or reservist they'd be pressed into action if england had been invaded.

StevieJ

mitchaa wrote: »

The risk is there for every single person setting foot in Afghanistan from your hardened SAS soldier to the RAF chef as to get into Afghanistan you need to fly there To get around Afghanistan, i.e transfer from Kandahar to camp bastion in helmand you travel by road or by chinook.

Yes the aircraft are regularly shot at and yes CB and Kandahar regularly get mortared.

Although the chef may not pick up his SA80 and fire it in anger, he may well get shot out of the sky travelling to and fro or be hit by an IED when travelling by road.

Significant risk even though perhaps directly not involved.

Presumably also the case when politicians/celebrities visit there.

mbga9pgf

pop_gun wrote: »

how comes you're whinging about private sector pension contributions being in line with your own public sector one. surely you weren't expecting a final salary pension with all the trimmings

Not whinging at all. I have been arguing for public sector austerity for some time on here. The fact we lead the public sector in personal contributions is something I am quite proud of actually!

pop_gun wrote: »

wait a minute. didn't we dump our sewage waste off african coasts and destroy their livelihoods forcing them to become pirates?

Are you a mental? Which conspiracist website did you dig that off?

when you talk about defending the private sector are you refering to the fact we're the 5th largest arms exporter?

And? It makes the country (private sector) a fortune you silly little tree hugger you.

with india being the largest importer (figures off wiki, so salt pinch of) aren't we (metaphorically speaking) in afganistan ideally placed to sell 'direct' as it were, to our biggest potential customer. no doubt some that finds it's way back into afganistan and taliban hands.

Erm, no it doesnt. You really are a little cretin arent you. Most of the weaponry we come against comes from chinese manufacture via Iran. Its quite widely documented in the public sphere if you stop reading conspiracist treehugging claptrap and read a decent newspaper. I guess you know all about trade fairs in the UK? The location of India in relation to Afghan (You do know pakistan is in the way dont you?) has c0ck all to do with our involvement there.

it's a good job they don't pay you to think.

It is, otherwise you would be skint.

God, some people are absolute oxygen theves arent they?

mbga9pgf

StevieJ wrote: »

Presumably also the case when politicians/celebrities visit there.

Unfortunately, politicians dont get the 6 months of shelling that left me twitching for a month after I got home from Basrah. If you want to find out what a mortar sounds like, slam your fridge door really hard... It sounds exactly the same (as my wife found out and left me spread-eagled on the floor)! :rotfl:

pop_gun

mbga9pgf;34441055 Not whinging at all. I have been arguing for public sector austerity for some time on here. The fact we lead the public sector in personal contributions is something I am quite proud of actually!

you were having a whinge. admit it, you're amongst civilian now. you can lose the hard man act.

Are you a mental? Which conspiracist website did you dig that off?

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html

Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html

And? It makes the country (private sector) a fortune you silly little tree hugger you.

tut tut. sticks and stones :rotfl:

the point if you missed it, is the arms industry is heavily subsizided from public coffers for private benefit. is there a theme developing here? does your meathead compute?!