Mate Injured in Afghanistan

[manic_man]

Fair enough

Should say though re: compulsory servitude.

I ABHORE violence, I would rather die at my own hand than kill for someone elses gain.

I wont swear or use a frowny smiley as neither convey just how strongly i feel that.

NO ONE has the right to tell me to kill, whether its for the good of my country or not.

Im sure if conscription was re-introduced i'd end up in prison for my crime of being principled against human beings killing each for no reason other than people who crave power having big ego's and people not being able to resolve their issues through diplomacy.

I get the feeling those telling me to **** off will call me a weak willed coward for my views but they are what they are.

I also respect those that choose to join the army for those noble reasons being bandied around in here, but as family members of mine are or have gone through the process of joining up, I know some of them at least are only joining to use a gun and pick up women with the uniform and because they didnt try at school so have no other real prospects, tell me its BS if you want but they are MY relatives.

I re-iterate once more, if an enlisted soldier is injured in the line of duty, there should b a feasible scheme in place to care for them for as long as required. A lump sum compensation is a cop out from the army as it means they can quickly forget about the soldier their plan of action ultimately debilitated.

 

[churned]

And also, this was very rare that he survived such a severe injury, I read that they were expecting him to be dead soon after he went into the coma, he needs compensation because of how de-abilitating the injury is to his personal life...

 

[Ghosteh]

to be frank, I'm ******* gobsmacked at some of the responses in this thread. Someone on about £12K a year gets severely injured while serving his country(don't bring up the politics of war, a Soldier doesn't choose his fight) and some people are asking why on earth he should get compensation??!!

I'll have to post again, when I've calmed down a bit so I can make a useful post

 

[manic_man]

to be frank, I'm ******* gobsmacked at some of the responses in this thread. Someone on about £12K a year gets severely injured while serving his country(don't bring up the politics of war, a Soldier doesn't choose his fight) and some people are asking why on earth he should get compensation??!!

I'll have to post again, when I've calmed down a bit so I can make a useful post

They may not choose their specific fight but they DO choose to fight.

Thats the point beind made.

What i dont agree with at all is that the army has no responsibility to help their injured soldiers. Of course they do and those that think they dont simply because the danger is inherant with the job arn't really thinking it through properly. Just a single lump sum payment is not the answer... 150k wont stretch very far at all in the grand scheme of life.

 

[Zip]

Why are we paying them anything, dont they all ready get paid to do their jobs?

Put it this way, Some ****** my girlfriend has to care for down here got slight brain damage because he crashed a car he STOLE got a huge pay out

Since then hes almost killed a guy and hes still not in jail.


And btw almost anyone can get pay outs for bing injured at work, not just soldiers.

Now stop being a heartless selfish ****

 

[Ghosteh]

They may not choose their specific fight but they DO choose to fight.

Thats the point beind made.

What i dont agree with at all is that the army has no responsibility to help their injured soldiers. Of course they do and those that think they dont simply because the danger is inherant with the job arn't really thinking it through properly. Just a single lump sum payment is not the answer... 150k wont stretch very far at all in the grand scheme of life.

That is true, we still choose to fight(I say we, as I'm current waiting to Re-enter the army in the next few months if all goes to plan) but the lease I would expect is to be treated with dignity and respect on my return, hopefully not dead or injured.

That's why I mentioned a soldier doesn't choose his fight, but he does choose to fight for his country, and the lack of respect shown by the population of this country makes me rather mad.

And what's more, I'm not a very articulate person, so I such at putting my thoughts and feelings across lol.

EDIT:
Just to add, hope he gets well soon etc.

 

[wordy]

That is true, we still choose to fight(I say we, as I'm current waiting to Re-enter the army in the next few months if all goes to plan) but the lease I would expect is to be treated with dignity and respect on my return, hopefully not dead or injured.

That's why I mentioned a soldier doesn't choose his fight, but he does choose to fight for his country, and the lack of respect shown by the population of this country makes me rather mad.

Good post, and good luck with getting back in

And what's more, I'm not a very articulate person, so I such at putting my thoughts and feelings across lol.

You don't need to explain yourself to anyone, especially not to some of the ***** posting in this thread.

 

[manic_man]

That is true, we still choose to fight(I say we, as I'm current waiting to Re-enter the army in the next few months if all goes to plan) but the lease I would expect is to be treated with dignity and respect on my return, hopefully not dead or injured.

That's why I mentioned a soldier doesn't choose his fight, but he does choose to fight for his country, and the lack of respect shown by the population of this country makes me rather mad.
And what's more, I'm not a very articulate person, so I such at putting my thoughts and feelings across lol.

EDIT:
Just to add, hope he gets well soon etc.

Im afraid that appears to be general human behavior.

If something does not directly effect us then we generally choose to ignore it or (in the case of places like forums) be vocal about it.

Empathy is a suprisingly powerful tool (i.e. the ability to place ones self in somebody elses position and apply their mindset to the situation, not your own) and one most dont seem to value.

The inability to see the others point of view is what leads us to need an army in the first place....

Either way, im supposed to be writing a dissertation :s so im going to leave it at that.

Good luck with the re-enlistment and once more: best of luck to the person the OP was talking about.

[EDIT] I have highlighted the reason in the quoted statement for my comment about Empathy, I realised afterwards it could be read I was saying the poster couldn't empathise, that wasnt my intention at all [/EDIT]

 

[VIRII]

Didn't they just get an extra 6 billion recently?

*been too long since i watched the news that wasn't techy

Defence cuts over the last 10 years have been huge We have a smaller armed servie than ever before, military hospitals have pretty much been wound up, army houses are being sold off and many are in a right state.
Blair wanted to go from a well respected Army to a specialist task force. Then sends our armed personnel into more conflicts than any previous primeminister in peace time.

By contrast the NHS budget went from £45bn to £90bn ............ I can't say it seems any different, although lots of trained staff can't find jobs which is not exactly efficient.
I'd say most of our services are underfunded and what funding there is rarely gets to those who need it. Just look at the lack of kit our soldiers have

 

[Breeze]

He deserves compensation. There are a lot less deserving people in this country he get compensation for **** all.

 

[wordy]

Im afraid that appears to be general human behavior.

If something does not directly effect us then we generally choose to ignore it or (in the case of places like forums) be vocal about it.

Empathy is a suprisingly powerful tool (i.e. the ability to place ones self in somebody elses position and apply their mindset to the situation, not your own) and one most dont seem to value.

The inability to see the others point of view is what leads us to need an army in the first place....

I think we are living in a more selfish age and a lot of people seem to think that if they can't have or don't need xyz then no one else should get it.

It really makes me furious that such a mean spirited point of view is so popular amongst the people of this country. Especially when it is directed against the very people who risk their lives to ensure they have the freedom to voice their own opinions.

 

[Burned_Alive]

I suppose this whole argument actually hinges on how much he's getting paid per month on top of the lump sum, which it appears no one knows how much this is.

 

[VIRII]

not just that, huge amounts have gone on things like the Eurofighter Typhoon and hugely advanced frigates whilst we don't have enough choppers.

Very true. Most of the new spending is on replacing some very outdated major equipment, it is not going on bullet proof vests, rifles, boots, helmets, toilet paper or other day to day requirements of a squaddie in Iraq in his green camo whilst fighting in a desert...

For those who say that defence spending is up and that there are no cuts try google:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=uk+defence+cuts&meta=

 

[VIRII]

I suppose this whole argument actually hinges on how much he's getting paid per month on top of the lump sum, which it appears no one knows how much this is.

It'll be very little, he was low ranking so it'll be a disability pension and not much more.
Army life can be pretty harsh when it goes wrong. An ex girlfriend of mines father was a Colonel and was killed in an RTA. They got a small payout and 4 weeks to find a new place to live. Then that was it, Army life over.

In days gone by this soldier in the OP would have been at a top quality military hospital where he'd have received as many years of physio as he needed to get as fit as possible again. This poor kid has a pretty bleak future now.

 

[Stretch]

Seriously, this thread is full of completely disgusting comments. When I joined these forums the blatant racism really, really annoyed me. But the rest of the forum was quite helpful and its seems like the racist rubbish has stopped for a while.

But this is just as bad, I just can't understand how you people are coming out with such utter rubbish. Do you have NO compassion, do you have NO feelings?

Privates get £15,677.04 in the army, that is nothing considering what they do. It should blatantly be double that, especially in todays world. The army is terribly overstretched so soldiers are working more than is safe (puts them at risk of PTSD etc) and they accept all that. But surely they can get compensation if they get injured, thats just common sense. The guy who lost both legs, is he ever gonna be able to get a proper job that pays okay ever again? I think not. Its loss of earnings, stress caused, etc.

Look, go to your local barracks are spout your ****. Hopefully they'll kick your heads in, but to be honest, you're not even worth that.

@ Virii, I have found a new definition of scum.

No one forced them to sign up, if you don't like it find a different job. Who is to blame if a soldier gets injured in the field of battle, no one has been negligent it's just the reality of war. The fact they get low pay is meaningless. Enough people put them selves forward at that rate so why should it pay more. The guy that's been injured will be adequately looked after by the state he just won’t get a huge payout, and why should he?

 

[Neoni]

My GF's brother just came home from the conflicts in afghanistan, hes very well.

He said its very scary you dont realise how close you can come to dying. Feel sorry for anyone over there. yes they know what there in for. But its still awful.

 

[Squarehed]

Was talking about this with my parents last night and my thoughts were that 'compensation' has become a dirty word associated with those money grabbing legal help 'no win no fee' adverts really badly done on TV.

The government has a responsibility to this man, he's willingly signed up to risk his life and limbs to fight their wars. So I think that the best care should be given when something does go wrong like this. Veterans are pretty badly treated by many accounts in this country.

I think too much emphasis is put solely on the payout money, whereas we should be focusing on what kind of care and the quality of it that this man is given. There shouldn't be an issue of cost when it comes to looking after a man who protected you, even though one doesn't necessarily agree with the war he was fighting, he was only doing his duty. Yes, the duty he knew would put him into danger, but he shouldn't be left up **** creek without a paddle when things really turn bad like this.

Just my opinion anyway.

 

[FirebarUK]

As mentioned, care is the most important thing for the future of injured servicemen.

The ridiculous thing in this country is the whole issue of giving compensation for seemingly anything that goes wrong. At the end of the day you shouldn't be joining the forces to treat it like a long holiday around the world and a fitness camp - armies fight in wars, wars kill soldiers. Period. Fortunately no-one forces you to sign up to the armed forces, can you imagine if conscription happened in the UK as a result of a major conflict. The MoD may as well give up and just hand everyone some compensation.

 

[Zip]

Privates get £15,677.04($38,000AUD) in the army

After going through Bootcamp/basic training and becoming a Soldier down here we start with $44,000AUD and thats just the beginning.


WTF do you're soldiers get paid so badly?

 

[Zip]

http://www.armyjobs.mod.uk/Benefits/Pay+Pensions+and+Allowances/Soldier+Pay.htm

Im guessing you lot get taxed aswell?

From what ive found so far, Australian soldiers pay no or very minimal levels of tax.
Plus there is a huge heap of benifits and we get extra pay for being deployed


FFS, just ben looking up and it looks like that our army may have just had a pay drop