Bad treatment in the army

Big_John_246

Hi All

Please excuse the way this is written as I suffer with dyslexia and righting letters is nothing short of a nightmare.

My name is John I am 51 and I live in Lincolnshire with my wife and two children. My wife and I have been married for 30 years this year; we also have two older children and have 3 grandchildren.

As I had already explained I suffer with dyslexia and when I was at school I found it a real struggle, I was bulled at both my Primary and Secondary schools this made things even harder and not a very happy time at all.

Since I was a young child I always wanted to join the armed forces as I had been in the Cadet Corps for 11 years and was in the T.A for 3 years, my wish was to go in the Royal Marines but to my dismay I failed the entrance test because of my dyslexia, I was encouraged to join the army and joined the Royal Artillery and I done my basic training at Woolwich.

I was going to sign up for 22 years but on the advice of my farther he said sign up for three years and if you do not like it you have not committed yourself, but if you like it you can sign on again, it was my full intention to do 22 years service and hopefully work my way up through the ranks, I would have also be entitled to an Army full pension.

When I had completed my basic training I was assigned to the RHA My time spent with the RHA was again not a very good time, I was again bullied along with others who were also bullied the same as me. We could not do anything about it as it included all ranks. I did ask if I could transfer to another regiment as I loved being in the army it was the bulling that I could not cope with, but they would not let me transfer so I made my mind up that I was only going to serve only three years as I could not take this treatment.

I still think about this a lot to day and I know it still affects me as well, I resent the way I was treated, I was false to leave my chosen career due to the constant bulling from other ranks, one of my friend that also suffered in the same way ended up going AWOL to try and get a dishonourable discharge just to get away, there were also other that were treated the same way.

I did report this number of years ago and I had an R.M.P come to my house to take a statement, I never heard anymore about it, but to be honest I did not think I would. The government don’t want to admit that there is bulling in the Army.

I would have served my 22 years buy now and would have a full army pension, but due to my treatment I don't get a thing not even for my time served, and there is nothing I can do about it, it is so wrong. :mad:

John

stephenni1971

This is a wind up... right?

Big_John_246

stephenni1971 wrote: »

This is a wind up... right?

No this is 100% ture, why do you say this must be a wind up?

stephenni1971

Why post it?

asajj

Why he shouldn't stephenni?

Is there any way to follow up your complaint ? I don't really know but sometimes police complaints can be "re-opened" if it wasn't investigated properly.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm guessing that - by definition - going into one of the Armed Forces and then expecting they would treat you in a "normal" fashion sounds like something that simply wouldn't happen.

The whole idea of the Armed Forces is that you do whatever you are ordered to/whenever you are ordered to do it and don't think in terms of expecting "normal treatment" ever. You are cannon fodder pure and simple and it feels very odd to think in terms of being bullied when in them.

This is just not a normal work environment and I am surprised at anyone expecting it to be (and...yep...I'm the daughter of someone who spent many years in the Armed Forces and hence am probably under few illusions about expecting "normal treatment" out of them).

If you want "normal treatment" = then you get a civilian job from what I can see.

Expecting "normal fair treatment for yourself" on the one hand and being prepared to go out and kill people (or worse) just because they happen to be a native of whichever-country-it-is that your Government has decided to be at war with at the moment seem to me like two very incompatible objectives.

Hence why I wouldn't have dreamed of going into any of the Armed Forces myself (and my father was very very anti either of his children following in his footsteps and doing so)...

As far as I can see = you personally are treated in whatever way they think they will in the Armed Forces precisely in order to get you into the mindset that you, in turn, will treat whoever-is-being-defined-as-The Enemy currently in exactly the same way. That's the name of the game isn't it???

Big_John_246

As I said in my post above I had been in the Cadet for 11 years and had also served in the T.A for 3 years and had to do basic traning and was used to being beasted and shouted at and was quite prepared to go to were I was sent for which ever reason and I would have had no problem to due my duties that I would have been expected to do.

When I joined the regular Army I also done three months basic training and after that I done trade training, this time was being shouted at most of the time which I had no problem with, having inspection and having your kit in your locker thrown out of the window if it was not up to there standard again this was just part of the training, and there why of getting you into the mindset that they want you to be.:wall:

So then going in to a unit and having three and half years of hell that was no way of having anything to do with training.

I was in a ceremonial unit and probably knew more about field craft and firing assorted weapons than most of the other personnel in the unit due to my 3 years in an infantry unit in the T.A.

NotBothered

Big_John_246 wrote: »

I was in a ceremonial unit and probably knew more about field craft and firing assorted weapons than most of the other personnel in the unit due to my 3 years in an infantry unit in the T.A.

And that was probably your problem - thinking that three years Reserve Service made you more qualified than your peers!

It doesnt matter if you think you know better (or even know it), its all about following orders - no matter how stupid you think they are!

tomtontom

Bullying was (and is) rife in the armed forces John. It's not "the name of the game", there's a great difference between following orders and being subject to abuse.

I doubt you'll get anywhere through official channels, but if you contact one of the ex services support charities I'm sure they can put you in touch with someone who can help you put this behind you - and I know it won't be the first case they've come across.

Alias_Omega

One of the first few hits from "Army Bullying" brought this up on Google - http://armylgbt.org.uk/anti-bullying-and-harassment/

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Big_John_246 wrote: »

Hi All

Please excuse the way this is written as I suffer with dyslexia and righting letters is nothing short of a nightmare.

My name is John I am 51 and I live in Lincolnshire with my wife and two children. My wife and I have been married for 30 years this year; we also have two older children and have 3 grandchildren.

As I had already explained I suffer with dyslexia and when I was at school I found it a real struggle, I was bulled at both my Primary and Secondary schools this made things even harder and not a very happy time at all.

Since I was a young child I always wanted to join the armed forces as I had been in the Cadet Corps for 11 years and was in the T.A for 3 years, my wish was to go in the Royal Marines but to my dismay I failed the entrance test because of my dyslexia, I was encouraged to join the army and joined the Royal Artillery and I done my basic training at Woolwich.

I was going to sign up for 22 years but on the advice of my farther he said sign up for three years and if you do not like it you have not committed yourself, but if you like it you can sign on again, it was my full intention to do 22 years service and hopefully work my way up through the ranks, I would have also be entitled to an Army full pension.

When I had completed my basic training I was assigned to the RHA My time spent with the RHA was again not a very good time, I was again bullied along with others who were also bullied the same as me. We could not do anything about it as it included all ranks. I did ask if I could transfer to another regiment as I loved being in the army it was the bulling that I could not cope with, but they would not let me transfer so I made my mind up that I was only going to serve only three years as I could not take this treatment.

I still think about this a lot to day and I know it still affects me as well, I resent the way I was treated, I was false to leave my chosen career due to the constant bulling from other ranks, one of my friend that also suffered in the same way ended up going AWOL to try and get a dishonourable discharge just to get away, there were also other that were treated the same way.

I did report this number of years ago and I had an R.M.P come to my house to take a statement, I never heard anymore about it, but to be honest I did not think I would. The government don’t want to admit that there is bulling in the Army.

I would have served my 22 years buy now and would have a full army pension, but due to my treatment I don't get a thing not even for my time served, and there is nothing I can do about it, it is so wrong. :mad:

John

Sorry to be a spoiler, but you were going to join the Army in the early 1980's as a private. You would not sign on for 22 years. No one did. You got offered 3, 6 as a private. If you went for a trade, it was 9 years.

And as it is more than six years since you left the army, what are you looking for? I have worked with more than one who joined as a private in the army, and they got their boots on and made something of themselves.

Ok so it is not what you want to hear. But work for tomorrow, you cannot change what has happened.

BoP RAF 1980 89. I would had liked to had done 22 years as well, but it did not happen and I do not regret it either!