Quote: Dolly Dagger @ January 8 2010, 5:03 PM GMTSome people I know who were considered 'backward' and in 'remedial' classes at school are amongst the highest earners I personally know (and that includes people with professional post-graduate qualifications.)
Ye we tend to do well for ourselves.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ January 8 2010, 4:59 PM GMTI just don't get the desire to join such a thing. I'm sure others must get something out of it. I don't know what though.
There was a time as a kid I quite fancied going into the army; I liked the idea of all the outdoor physical stuff, guns, hiding in woods, drving tanks, that sort of thing. But I obviously wasn't that much of a tomboy because when the girl across the road who joined up told me you had to cut your hair and couldn't wear make-up I went off the idea. I thought I could go round like Private Benjamin.
Quote: Paul W @ January 8 2010, 5:04 PM GMTYe we tend to do well for ourselves.
Often the stuff they teach in school isn't the stuff you need in the world of employment.
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ January 8 2010, 5:07 PM GMTThere was a time as a kid I quite fancied going into the army; I liked the idea of all the outdoor physical stuff, guns, hiding in woods, drving tanks, that sort of thing. But I obviously wasn't that much of a tomboy because when the girl across the road who joined up told me you had to cut your hair and couldn't wear make-up I went off the idea. I thought I could go round like Private Benjamin.
I think it's the being told what to do, shouted at, getting shot at, maybe having to kill people bit that puts me off! If it was just travelling around to nice places abroad and shooting guns at targets, it might be quite a nice way to spend a few years!
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ January 8 2010, 5:07 PM GMT
Well I got a ungraded "U" in my IT qualifications at school and I now work in IT 
I quite enjoy the Action Girls website. Is that relevant?
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ January 8 2010, 5:03 PM GMTSome people I know who were considered 'backward' and in 'remedial' classes at school are amongst the highest earners I personally know (and that includes people with professional post-graduate qualifications.)
My Ph.D-holding former girlfriend was not pleased that I earned twice as much as she did without a degree and only 4 years of experience in the Army. I work 25-hour weeks, love my job and work with a bunch of Army buddies from 20 years ago. I wasn't in remedial classes or anything; they actually stopped sending me to English/reading classes for 4 years because I was reading at the university level when I was 9 years old.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ January 8 2010, 5:10 PM GMT
I think it's the being told what to do, shouted at, getting shot at, maybe having to kill people bit that puts me off!
There's really not any more shouting and ordering about than in any other job once your first couple of months of training are completed. The only people who get yelled at are the ones who don't do their jobs properly. And relatively few people actually find themselves getting shot at or having to shoot someone. I know at least a dozen people who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and none of them fired a shot.
Quote: DaButt @ January 8 2010, 6:39 PM GMTMy Ph.D-holding former girlfriend was not pleased that I earned twice as much as she did without a degree and only 4 years of experience in the Army. I work 25-hour weeks, love my job and work with a bunch of Army buddies from 20 years ago. I wasn't in remedial classes or anything; they actually stopped sending me to English/reading classes for 4 years because I was reading at the university level when I was 9 years old.
There's really not any more shouting and ordering about than in any other job once your first couple of months of training are completed. The only people who get yelled at are the ones who don't do their jobs properly. And relatively few people actually find themselves getting shot at or having to shoot someone. I know at least a dozen people who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and none of them fired a shot.
Were they the thickos who got given axes?
Quote: DaButt @ January 8 2010, 2:32 PM GMTThe people I served with were very intelligent and most had university degrees. And these were enlisted men and women, not officers. I don't know if the same holds true for the UK, but members of the U.S. military are better educated than the general population.
It seems to be very much an "it's either that, or live under a bridge" occupation here. As in, dumb f**ks who have no real use or prospects in the 'normal' world.
Quote: DaButt @ January 8 2010, 6:39 PM GMTAnd relatively few people actually find themselves getting shot at or having to shoot someone.
Even fewer get shot or have to shoot someone in most other professions though. Being in the armed forces is about potentially killing someone or losing your own life in battle. The whole point of an army is to either, potentially, defend or attack.
Quote: DaButt @ January 8 2010, 6:39 PM GMTI know at least a dozen people who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and none of them fired a shot.
No, the civilans aren't armed so they just used ropes, cable ties and tasers. 
Quote: Aaron @ January 8 2010, 7:14 PM GMTIt seems to be very much an "it's either that, or live under a bridge" occupation here. As in, dumb f**ks who have no real use or prospects in the 'normal' world.
Here it's a common means of paying for university and also a rite-of-manhood thing with a lot of tradition behind it. Many of young men join to prove themselves or to impress their fathers by joining the same branch of service that they once served with.
The UK troops I've seen on the documentaries in Afghanistan and Iraq seemed top-notch and highly motivated, but slightly undernourished and under-supplied.
Quote: Aaron @ January 8 2010, 7:19 PM GMTNo, the civilans aren't armed so they just used ropes, cable ties and tasers.
They were (and are) much better armed than the civilians in the United States and the UK, that much is certain. They're allowed to own automatic weapons, for example, and they're illegal in the United States. I wish I were allowed to own an assault rifle.
Quote: DaButt @ January 8 2010, 8:33 PM GMTto impress their fathers
I wouldn't do something like that just to impress my Dad!
Quote: chipolata @ January 8 2010, 5:16 PM GMTI quite enjoy the Action Girls website.
Quote: Paul W @ January 8 2010, 5:11 PM GMTWell I got a ungraded "U" in my IT qualifications at school and I now work in IT
Judging by most of the IT staff I encounter I don't think you're alone !
David Cameron is scarier than Cybermen, says Doctor Who's David Tennant