So who has spent time in the Army/Forces how do you feel afterwards

[Reality|Bites]

Just thinking about the troops serving the country going out and actually doing something about things other that standing there with a limp keyboard lol,
Does life feel different after living the army routine even if you haven't been to war and killed someone?

 

[Rroff]

Not ex-forces but funny enough had this come up in conversation twice recently (we employ some ex-forces at work). As a gross generalisation it seems split between those who never really get out of "army mode" and those that just slump (often with an underlying injury/issue picked up while serving) and are often well down the road of diabetes and/or heart disease.

We've got a few ex-infantry and ex-RAF at work and it is kind of funny as they don't really get along - quite a bit of "banter" but also see themselves as a group distinct to those who've never served - they like their 5am shifts, get bored if there isn't a challenge and the first to respond when things don't go to plan but I always get the feeling like there is a lack of fulfilment for them in civilian life.

 

[ivrytwr3]

Military people are humans too and just like any work place you get some great people and some throbbers.

27 years done so far, been to some amazing places and some really bad ones. There is no 'routine', one day you could be doing your day job and the next you're been told your off on Ops/Exercise for up to 6 months away from your family. I think the issue may be is that the day to day office work of civilian life becomes the routine and is not challenging. I relish the spontaneity.

 

[FBi7]

I left the RAF in 2010 after 9 years service. I wanted to do longer - could've signed on for another 3 years initially. However, the operational tempo at the time would have meant almost 18 months in Afghanistan and the rest of the 3 years training to go there. With a new baby and already working away from home, coming home at weekends, noticing massive changes in my daughter each time I came home, I didn't want to miss any more of that. Financially a risky move, left during a recession.

The military propaganda wagon haves you believe employers will be tripping over themselves to hire you, despite having no transferrable qualifications, although you do make up for that in life experience, ability to cope under pressure, timekeeping, reliability and a whole heap of other attributes that would make you an asset to an employer.

I was lucky to land a job, a junior management position, shortly after leaving. Things I noticed that were different:
1 - the pay, took a 50% pay cut. Took a long, long time, to stop living the champagne lifestyle on a lemonade wage.
2 - as mentioned earlier, timekeeping. In the military, if you were told to be somewhere at a certain time, you always turned up 10 minutes early. If you were 5 mins early, you were late! Other staff's timekeeping was poor, and it had just been accepted.
3 - people don't 'get' you, your sense of humour, your confidence and tackling problems head on is seen as aggression.
4 - no, or minimal, camaraderie, everyone's out for themselves.

It did take me a while to adjust to 'civvy' life and I'm now in a better place than I was when I left, but it took a few years. I still carry on a few militaryisms to the present day - timekeeping, I bull my boots before every shift, camaraderie and a dark sense of humour is essential in my current role. There's probably more that I don't even realise I'm doing.

I definitely think everyone should do some time in the military. Bring back National Service! It's still a thing in some countries on the continent if you're not in full time tertiary education.

 

[Noakesy85]

I'm still serving, done 14 years so far and have another 8 to go... I'll let you know when I get out

 

[bainbridge]

I did 3 years in army cadets, bummage flashbacks haunt me to this day.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Work ethic is the main thing with the few ex-forces colleagues I've known, particularly the older ones. Some people found their communication style a bit abrupt but it always worked well for me, prefer straight talkers!

 

[RxR]

I did 3 years in army cadets, bummage flashbacks haunt me to this day.

My years in the army cadets were enjoyable. Travelled to a few countries, picked up national sporting gold medals (100m sprint, cross-country), etc.

 

[pp111]

I definitely think everyone should do some time in the military. Bring back National Service! It's still a thing in some countries on the continent if you're not in full time tertiary education.

Perhaps a time in the military would not only build some helpful skills in life ( I mean discipline and so on, not 101 best ways to kill someone! ), but also serve to remind people that we live in a dangerous world. I think people have forgotten the horrors that our grandparents struggled through in the wars. People seem to talk about war now as if it's almost a game, nothing to be scared of. We came out of the last war hoping it would never happen again, with a demeanor that was caring and protective of each other, which we now seem to be losing. We could all do with reminding how bad war really is, and how hard we must try to avoid it, and maybe a spell in the military would do that?

 

[Zefan]

12 years was enough for me. Depending on which service/branch/trade you're in, the pro/con balance can shift if/when you make the move out of service accommodation and/or have kids. I know for me, my earning potential outside was 30% higher while not having to ever leave my family for months at a time again, while also not having to move about the country for zero real reason. The moment I properly decided to leave was when someone I was away with was saying happy birthday to his toddler on Skype. No ****ing thank you. The image of my family waving goodbye at the door with tears in their eyes is something I wouldn't be able to live with, knowing that it's a simple lack of being bothered to apply myself and have some balls that is the reason I'm still in.

Out around a year now, and although it's better I can't say it's much different as I was always really just in an office job most of the time anyway. I also managed to slip in to a civvy job in the same team I was already embedded with (industry/military partnership) so I have almost exactly the same colleagues and day to day responsibilities.

The main difference I suppose is that I'm more in control now. No longer at the mercy of the drafter for deployments or posting opportunities, the extra work I put in is something I can directly use to push for better opportunities, both in financially and geographically, and on my own terms. The technical parts of the military (specifically talking about IT here) are terrible for people who want to financially progress technically but not managerially. I'm not saying more responsibility is bad, but it isn't this way in civvy street, and for a good reason. When the system is set up such that you need to become a line manager to get a pay rise/access to better posts/not treated like a peon quite so much, anyone actually bothered/technically proficient is going to be wondering what the hell they're doing in, especially if they've bothered getting outside certification. As a result, the bulk of the service is made up of people who see "I get paid a good wage for very little work" as an actual achievement, when in reality it's just a coping mechanism for not going outside of the comfort zone of their military prescribed life to fulfill their full potential. I hear it daily (I used to say it, a decade ago!), so I've started asking people if "I got paid a ever so slightly above average wage for less than average effort" is really something they're going to be proud to tell their kids, or be satisfied with on their death bed. It's like an alien language at first but I'm glad to say it's definitely got some noggin's joggin.

 

[Nasher]

I know a few who went on to well paid jobs. Some on 6 figures. IT security/hacking is a big one, also intelligence analysis. Companies pay good money for DV cleared staff doing pretty much anything (they need a certain number of them employed to get the tasty contracts).

 

[Eurofighter]

In the navy, you can sail the seven seas, in the navy

 

[ttaskmaster]

In some ways it's very different.
When I joined up, it was very different to both my life previously and everything I'd been led to believe it would be. It took some time to get used to it.

Since leaving, it's taken me over 20 years to adjust back and I'm still at odds with some civvy ways of doing things (or more often not getting things done).
A lot of people just seem like a complete waste of flesh, while others are utter *****, and it still horrifies me that I would have been expected to bleed out screaming just so they could obliviously go about their selfish, self-serving existence.

Job-wise, there wasn't much call for someone with my very particular set of skills in civvy street (even in America), so I wound up working in an Engineering environment. People are slightly better, but also heavily nuanced and interspersed with non-engineering types who are the typical petty office workers, more concerned that your telephone cord is resting on the edge of their desk than they are with more important things.

During my service there was a shift in culture - You couldn't use a finger to point at a subordinate as it was threatening, so it had to be an open-handed gesture. You couldn't stand closer than 30" when addressing someone as it was threatening, and a whole load of other things which we'd now describe as 'woke'. Thankfully we never had mobile phones, so the situation wasn't exacerbated by the Twatterverse, or anything.

In some ways, military life is a Socialist's dream. Almost everyone pulls their weight, everyone has a role, everyone contributes, everyone else knows how you contribute, and everything that needs doing has someone assigned to get it done. We all work together for the benefit and betterment of us all... in theory, anyway. There are always differences in life experiences that provide points of conflict, but for the most part it works well, costs very little and can be a very comfortable existence. By comparison, civvy life is very lazy and inefficient, with a lot of it being about finding activities and interests with which to waste away your time.

I could probably talk for hours on the subject, but it's highly subjective. The military provides such a wide range of experiences, so those returning will have a similarly wide range of perspectives on civvy life.

 

[GreatAuk]

I used to work for an engineering consultancy that had a lot of ex-forces staff, and although I can't speak for them, my general impression was that:
- they were always keen to get stuck into a new problem and understand what they needed to do to help things get done, more so than civvies.
- at first they found it hard to understand why some things were the way they were and why so many of our projects and clients were organised and run in such a stupid way, but over time they got used to it and just tried to work around the illogical structures, albeit with more determination and less of a resigned attitude than civvies who had probably been in that sort of environment their entire working lives.
- they worked harder than civvies, and seemed more motivated to do a good job for its own sake.
- they missed some of the cameraderie, but also clearly appreciated not needing to go to the other side of the world or under the ocean surface for months at a time. I think all of the ones I knew had families, and that maybe says something about their motivations for leaving the military. Maybe that's partly why they seemed to have a more positive attitude to work than others in general, because they could really appreciate the benefits of being at home with the family every evening.
- whenever a few ex military happened to be in the kitchen at the same time conversation would turn to their time in the forces and they'd be telling stories and joking about it like a flash. Clearly had a lot of strong memories, and was still a big part of their identities even decades after they left in some cases. Maybe that says something about how mundane the experiences of civvy life are compared to military life.

 

[flea.rider]

joined when i was 15 .. big mistake .. left after i passed basic .. back then i was with 18-30 yr olds got in way to many fights guard house 3 times (my fault big chip on my young shoulders ) ..
14th 20th kings .. but that was 40 yrs ago ..did 3 weeks in the kitchens waiting for my papers .. been a chef for 40 yrs now ..

 

[dlockers]

The best programme managers I have ever worked with are ex-forces. Agree with everything @GreatAuk said.

 

[Begbie]

. As a result, the bulk of the service is made up of people who see "I get paid a good wage for very little work" as an actual achievement, when in reality it's just a coping mechanism for not going outside of the comfort zone of their military prescribed life to fulfill their full potential. I hear it daily (I used to say it, a decade ago!), so I've started asking people if "I got paid a ever so slightly above average wage for less than average effort" is really something they're going to be proud to tell their kids, or be satisfied with on their death bed. It's like an alien language at first but I'm glad to say it's definitely got some noggin's joggin.

Yes. But also there is more factors to take in than the above. Pension, the ability to do your hobbies in work time. I.E I go abroad often, paid including food etc to snowboard and so on. If you factor that stuff into my wages - then that 30% starts coming down considerably.

Still serving here. There's a lot I love and a lot I dislike. I agree with Zefan though, if I have a family at any point unless the situation really suits then I'll be out. Couldn't handle leaving my kids for a substantial amount of time or even driving back and forward weekly. But while I'm getting paid to ride bikes, snowboard and generally have an awesome time - I'll probably still be in.

 

[Zefan]

Yes. But also there is more factors to take in than the above. Pension, the ability to do your hobbies in work time. I.E I go abroad often, paid including food etc to snowboard and so on. If you factor that stuff into my wages - then that 30% starts coming down considerably.

True, but how many actually take advantage of all the benefits? I find more will talk about those benefits than really make any proper use of them significant enough to make a difference. Of course that's down to the individual, but I know from my experience less than 10% of people take advantage of that even close to properly.

The biggest reason the pure salary factor matters is house affordability. You're talking more than a 50k affordability bump in my case, it's a significant difference.

 

[Begbie]

True, but how many actually take advantage of all the benefits? I find more will talk about those benefits than really make any proper use of them significant enough to make a difference. Of course that's down to the individual, but I know from my experience less than 10% of people take advantage of that even close to properly.

The biggest reason the pure salary factor matters is house affordability. You're talking more than a 50k affordability bump in my case, it's a significant difference.

Agreed, hugely. Shame really, as it's the best part of it all - sadly it's probably even less than 10%.

 

[kiteloopy]

Agreed, hugely. Shame really, as it's the best part of it all - sadly it's probably even less than 10%.

True, but how many actually take advantage of all the benefits? I find more will talk about those benefits than really make any proper use of them significant enough to make a difference. Of course that's down to the individual, but I know from my experience less than 10% of people take advantage of that even close to properly.

Is the snowboarding / benefits a bit like a 24/7 Gym at work? as in, BAU workload stacks up and gym time becomes an afterthought luxury? curious if there is a civvy street equivalent.