Firstly, @RobC, I think you’d be surprised at how many Forces/Ex-Forces are on LB, and I thoroughly back what you are saying about ALL of the Tri-Services doing their bit in the many conflicts we get involved in.
What a lot of people,who haven’t been on op’s, don’t seem to realise is that warfare nowadays isn’t like it used to be. As soon as troops hit the ground (regardless of Service/Capbadge) they are surrounded!
It’s easy for them to sit in the house, watching the various documentaries and news reels, and form their own oppinions on how the “Green Zones” are like being on holiday, and everybody is “Safe” until they leave the confines of the base/camp.
Ok, now for the reality check! The vast majority of the public do not realise that the troops who go out to these places do so not knowing if they will be coming back to spend the bonus they receive!
Full list of up to date casualty and fatality numbers HERE…
They look at the things we take for granted as luxuries! Imagine being in a place where the closest thing to a shower is your mate pouring bottles of water over you (if you’re lucky) and you are under constant threat of attack, Green Zone or not!
Imagine not knowing if you’re not going to see your mates again every time they go out on patrol. Not being able to have a couple of beers after a long day at work. Not being able to nip down the shop and buy a few chocalate bars… The list goes on!
It’s not like the movies, it’s not like the documentaries. The men and women on those documentaries are usually putting a brave face on it, mainly for proffessionalism, also for the fact that they don’t want people to know that they are usually fed up, tired and probably (if theyre honest about it) a little bit scared!
And (almost at the end of this), no offence Jewell, but before you start dishing out the abuse to people who’ve been there and done it I think you need to get some operational experience under your belt fella! 
As said, no offence meant, but having personally spent roughly three and a half years of my life on live ops in both Kosovo and Northern Ireland, it’s not the sort of thing you can get a feeling for through family ties etc… It’s something you will only understand when you’ve actually been in the situation where your arse is trying to eat the seat you’re sat on! 
Doing an exercise with the RAF doesn’t mean you’ve seen them at there best or worse, it just means you’ve seen them on exercise! And, if it seemed to you that they were treating the whole thing as if their lives depended on it, whilst your lads were more relaxed about things, ask yourself who got more out of the exercise? I only say this because I’ve been there and seen the elitism that goes on in the forces, and it only lasts as long as it takes for the first few rounds of effective enemy fire to start bouncing around your feet! At which point you don’t care who’s next to you, as long as they’re banging the rounds down!
So, if you have issues with how much you’re being paid in relation to the people around you, change jobs! It’s easily done nowadays! Or, as we used to say in the Royal Engineers, “If you’ve got an issue, grab a tissue!”… 
Lastly, the reason that Royal Engineers get paid more is that they work harder than everyone else!
(PULL PIN AND RETIRE TO A SAFE DISTANCE!) :w00t:
