British Troops In Combat Make Less Than Minimum Wage: “Frankly, They Would Make More Money Emptying Dustbins”
We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints:
Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind,”
But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind,
There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind.
British soldiers risking death in Afghanistan and Iraq are being paid about half the national minimum wage. The troops, facing daily attacks in Helmand and Basra, and suffering a rising toll of dead and injured, are among Britain’s lowest paid workers.
In the midst of a recruitment crisis, with soldiers being sent to highly dangerous conflicts with little monetary reward, commanders believe an improvement in wages is essential to maintain morale. General Sir Richard Dannett, the recently appointed head of the Army, said: “There are issues like basic pay. A Para with a year’s training at Catterick, engaged in Helmand, is taking home ?1,150 a month. Is that enough? Is that fair?”
The discontent over pay comes amid growing concern about casualties being suffered, especially in Afghanistan from a resurgent Taliban. Doubts have been expressed about the tactics being pursued. The former aide-de-camp to the British task force in Afghanistan, Captain Leo Docherty, of the Scots Guards, who has just left the Army, said the campaign in Helmand was ” a textbook case of how to screw up a counter-insurgency”.
The average salary of a newly qualified soldier is ?14,300 before tax – compared with about ?20,000 for a police officer. In a combat zone, being on duty for a minimum of 16 hours gives the troops an hourly rate of ?2.45. There is also a longer service separation allowance of about ?6 a day, but this only applies to those who have served at least 12 months away from home.
[…]
The armed forces were to be brought into the minimum wage structure by the incoming Labour Government in 1997. But the idea was dropped after pressure from the then Defence Secretary, George Robertson, who claimed it would put the military into a financial and legal straitjacket.
Would that be this George Robertson by any chance? Why yes, it would. Fancy that.
From Brussels to the boardroom: what George Robertson did next
? Documents reveal new roles of former minister
? More than ?500,000 paid for business posts
David Leigh and Rob Evans
Thursday February 9, 2006
The Guardian
It has been more than two years since George Robertson bowed out as secretary-general of Nato, leaving its Brussels headquarters and a reported tax-free salary of ?140,000 a year. But rather than settle into a quiet retirement, he has taken on a series of boardroom roles, making the son of a Scottish village policeman more money than he earned as a politician – in excess of ?500,000 a year.
[…]
Lord Robertson says: “I am not a lobbyist”. He says he was hired two years ago to improve the company’s relations with British and foreign governments. He got ?421,601, including a ?200,000 bonus, last year for working two days a week.
[…]
Lord Robertson has capitalised on his friendship with William Cohen, the defence secretary in Bill Clinton’s administration, who pays him for help with lobbying. The Washington-based Cohen Group says it has won military contracts from the MoD and other European countries for commercial clients, but refused to say how Lord Robertson had been involved.
[…]
Lord Robertson denies he was getting ?250,000 a year from Mr Cohen. “It’s a fraction of that,” he says.
Last year, Lord Robertson did receive ?40,000 from the military aerospace company Smiths Group, and ?32,000 from Weir Group, which sells weapons systems to the Royal Navy. Weir is facing a possible Serious Fraud Office investigation for allegedly paying bribes in Iraq.
[…]
Lord Robertson is paid an undisclosed sum by London-based financiers Englefield Capital. The firm says he advises on global trends and specific areas where the firm wants to do business. Englefield has interests in Slovakia, which Lord Robertson visited last autumn, funded by the US-based Friends of Slovakia. Englefield says he did no work for it on that trip.
Lord Robertson is also a “strategic adviser” to the European arm of the Royal Bank of Canada, which reportedly pays him ?100,000 a year. The bank said yesterday his advice was on “infrastructure finance”. “Lord Robertson has strong connections in Scotland, and also has in-depth knowledge of the public sector,” it said.
Nice to see our labour lords and masters aren’t suffering from ‘War on Terror’. That’s what the little people, the poor old bloody privates, are for.
You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country,” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
But Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool – you bet that Tommy sees!
Read More: Afghanistan, War On Terror, UK, Nato, British Army, Army Pay, Lord George Robertson, New Labour, Lobbying, Corruption.
