Apparent contradiction

[pecunium]

A couple of weeks ago the Army hit its retention goal for the year, when a SSG extended his contract.

I'm still in.

Guys looking at third, and fourth tours are staying in.

And lots of them think the whole thing a fiasco. That the deaths are, in effect, pointless, because the things we are trying to do aren't going to come to pass. Even if we thought them possible (establish a stable gov't in Iraq, which will have internal peace. I don't think many of them care, overmuch, what sort of gov't it is, so long as the chaos stops; which is a sad commentary), they don't think the time required for that (not less than five years more, and probably not less than twice that, look at Bosnia and Kosovo, there are still troops keeping them from blowing up again, and they weren't this bad when we started) is going to be afforded us.

So why do they do it? Why put it all on the line again, and again, and again.

Arms and Influence has an interesting read on it.

Comments

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

It's not just finishing the job, I think.

At some level, I think it has to be the commitment to your fellow soldiers.

DV

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

It's lots of things, buddies, the dead, the ideals, the Box, the finishing the job, and indescribables, but I'd never seen that piece added to the puzzle.

TK

[pindar.livejournal.com]

MOst of the reasons for signing off on this side of the pond are typically:

1. Constant op deployment with little roulement time. Overstertch is a particular problem when about 1/3rd of the field army is either on a training course or DS'ing a course. The net result is that you get off one tour with your own cap-badge and then get spammed to back fill another slot with a regt that is same roled in the arms plot - a particular problem for the infantry regiments, especially the single battallion ones. It's more hidden now that many of the single battn regiments have been amalgamated into multi-battn regts.

2. Our kit is crap. SA80 A2 is slightly more robust than the A1, but we still call it the "Toy and Hobby Gat" (after a well known toy shop). Pre-Op Telic the Gov't delayed getting orders out for body armour, sand filters, "ressi" filters, desert boots and CS95, the whole raft of personal kit in fact because it didn't want to be seen to be ramping up to a war it was committed to but still giving the charade of going through the diplomatic route. Added to that our rear G4 support comes from an executive agency of the MOD called the Defence Logistics Agency - they couldn't move beer to a bar if they organised a piss up in a brewery.

3. Our pay and T&C are far worse than yours. We pay tax when on delp[oyment, get no "GI Bill" benefits, the Defence medical Service is almost non-existent unless you are on a major Garrison such as Aldershot or Catterick and even then the services are outsourced to the NHS, accommodation in some camps is appalling for single soldiers and the MQ's are not much better.

In spite of that our retention rate is reasonable, though if tough realities were looked in the face instead of spun by the CoC it would actually be a damn sight better. For the most part though soldiers sign on again not for the reasons sited in the article above (here), but because in spite of everything the job security is still better than you can expect on civvi strasse if you have 12 or more years in. The incentive to stay to your 16 year point and start collecting a pension is quite srtong, and at that point you get a hefty sighning on bonus. What would help retain ex regular soldiers in the TA would be if we used a system similar to the US where short service periods of mobilisation or deployment actually counted into pension rights. All you get is "X factor" on top of the daily pay rate (taken as the median of your rank's pay point plus an X Factor of 7.5%) and an annual bounty of £1200.

Also, you have anomilies like the Honourable Artillery Company based in London where JNCO's are often on £100K plus salaries a year, and all officers are drawn from within their ranks (I know of one ex reg Maj who is now a L/Cpl in the HAC, and it is the only regiment of the British Army where there is absolutely no class distinction between the ranks and only one mess which is used from the Col down - all on first name terms). You get the army mobilising JNCO's who's salary goes down from £100k to £25K, but they still have mortgages and kisd probably attending fee paying schools to have to meet. Because of the class mindedness of the army, to some in the CoC it's incenceivable that a (mere) Cpl in the TA could earn more than a Maj Gen and so the army drags it's feet against meeting it's obligation to pay the earnings suppliment due to these men. That's where you get the biggest sign off.

We're a bunch of cynical bastards over here.

[prophet-marcus.livejournal.com]

Some of the articles I just read say the top brass attributes this to reenlistment bonuses and belief in the war against terrorism. Others say it's renewed patriotism. Hard to get good data - but my guess would be renewed esprit-de-corps and the sense of "finishing the job." It seems to jibe more with the way military and ex-military folk I've known over the years think. Just my guess, but I don't see the money being much of an incentive to men and women who've been through several firefights. It might tip the balance in borderline cases.

One article did mention that retention was good for those who had had shorter combat deployments that for those who had had either none or extended combat deployments.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I think he has the gist of it. It's what you've trained for, and what you know how to do. So you keep doing it because someone has to.

[pracuel.livejournal.com]

I am really enjoying reading your posts- added you as a friend and will, no doubt, site your blog in my posts.

As a civilian I wonder if the military has any recourse when they find themselves under the command of a President that violates the constitution and lies the troops into a conflict they have no business in. If things get really out of control can Generals and top brass, that are more beholden to the Constitution rather then Donald Rumsfeld, step in to restore the dignity of our country and its military?

No one that reads me is ever against the troops- I personally am sad that they have been ordered to do a job that is only profiting Halliburton and the like. So far I have lost four friends in the World Trade Center and three guys in Iraq.

I really hope someone steps up to the plate- what I have seen lately is not the country I love and grew up in and my friends in uniform deserved better then they received- I could understand if they died in a conflict that entaled us defending ourselves from another nation that attacked us- that is part of the job as sad as it is.

But it has been so hard to rationalize their deaths knowing that everything we were told, prior to "Shock and awe", was a lie- especially when the lies came from their Commander-In-Chief.

Keep writing...there is a lot of truth in what you write here.