What are your experiences of looking for a job, is it something you feel you had support with?

Get your CV sorted

How long did it take for you to gain employment, when you left the Armed Forces?

The transition back to civilian life can be a daunting one, more so for someone having served 20 years. However, for others it's a straightforward process. Therefore how much is the MoD really responsible for someone leaving and isn't it ultimately the individual's responsibility to get out there and network and research?

Many veterans say they end up studying or working self-employed despite getting good resettlement after a period of service (the wisdom seems to be that the longer you serve, for example 12 years, the better support you get; serve 3-5 years and the support is rubbish) for awhile but most do find full-time employment. But the length of service is not an issue for everyone. Some say they got good resettlement only after 6 years' service. Then again, some people talk honestly about their resettlement horror stories in which they got no help; and those are many.

Looking at what people posted on our advice boards on the website, the general advice is don't rely on the government to help you:

1. You have to have a contingency plan set before you leave
2. Start the ball rolling BEFORE you leave
3. Keep looking and don't give up
4. It's about Blowing Your Own Trumpet (this comes from someone working in the Recruitment industry!)
5. Get a CV sorted out

If you're looking for more career advice have a look at our discussion boards online.

Benefits of Joining the British Armed Forces: Why Would You?

In a nutshell... why on earth would you join the Armed Forces? It's rubbish pay, and you could get killed.

Not only that, you're a bit left wing and believe in a protest against imperialism (you might even be one of those nutters from Muslims Against Royal Familes or what nonsense they are called) and speaking out for the British common man, therefore you don't want to join the UK Armed Forces. You could be a disaffected former member of the Or you might not believe in war at all despite the UK Armed Forces being primarily an expeditionary defence force for at least the past 250 years. It hasn't embarked upon any sort of conquest for centuries (you might argue Empire existed BUT that was started by trading companies NOT the Armed Forces).

Whatever your objections, and they are many, they'd be against everything you believed in.

Besides, you never voted for the ConDem government nor even deputy Nick Clegg nor even the PM David Cameron. So why should you join?

Well, to put it into perspective - your oath of alligence is to the Head of state, in this case the Queen and your Regiment not to the government. Utter tosh you might say as the British head of state is powerless. The Commons runs things. True.

But none can deny that indeed you do swear your Oath of Allegiance to the Squadron or regiment, most of whom are your fellow Britons; and often in the case of the Army people from the same town or county. These are the good folk that you back and protect in a conflict. Most of which are common men and women. The heart of industry of this country.

Secondly - the money is not THAT poor. It's lower yes initially but not in the long term. Look for an equivalent job as a civilian that has the benefits of the military equivalent and pound to a penny you actually WON'T find one.

A Chef on a cruise ship won't earn £16k PA when they start but one on a Royal Navy ship will - but that's just one insignificant example.

The basic benefits included in most armed forces jobs are:

1. Free medical and dental care

2. Good rent for often decent accomodation

3. Job security which is poor in the private sector. Albeit until 2011 the public sector was safe but ride out this financial storm and things should be right again by 2013.

4. 6 weeks paid holidays plus bank holidays. You'll never find this in a civilian company (maybe if you work in a highly paid financial job in the city or are a banker however).

5. Despite the public sector cuts, Armed Forces still has of the best pension plans on the market.

But be realistic

The UK's Armed Forces are one of the largest in the world in terms of power projection and deployed in a number of serious armed conflicts throughout the globe. It's likely that you might find yourself in one of these conflicts.

Which you may not take to as much as the next person...

Am I Eligible to Join the British Military?

Ever wonder what the different jobs are within the Armed Forces, their specific requirements, and average salaries? We have put together career profiles on several of the most sought after positions, including: Eligibility Basics, Reasons to Join, Civilian Comparisons, Getting into a Service Academy, Benefits Overview, and British Armed Forces Missions.


Recommended resources: Careers Advice, Test Tips, Fitness requirements

10 Steps to Joining the Force

Get the basics on the different types of naval and military careers, how to best prepare yourself, what to study, who to talk to and when to talk to them. Learn how to get your foot in the door and why you need to get fit. Access the guide...


Recommended resources: Careers Advice, Test Tips, Fitness requirements

HMForces Benefits, Advice and Support Section

Here, in one handy section, is all the information you ever wanted to know about the money related benefits for working as a member of the Armed Forces.

If there is something missing that you want to know, drop us an email at: notes@ hmforces.co.uk and we’ll get working on finding the answer for you.

This certainly doesn’t trip off the tongue but it is a report presented to Parliament in July 2008 by the Secretary of State for Defence and the Minister of State for the Armed Forces. It lists a range of proposals that the government is planning to introduce in the near future. However, there are is a wide range of time scales for the introduction of the measures so these are summarised in the Nation’s Commitment section at the end.

Here're all the sections - have a browse through them and if you don't find what you're looking for check our forum posts as someone before you might have posted a specific question and got an answer from someone. Otherwise drop us an email at notes@ hmforces.co.uk and we'll see if we can help.

British & Military Cultural Events

The British Armed Forces has a long tradition of custom, pagentry, and history. Like it or not, the naval and military services are bound up in the cultural life of the United Kingdom; its languages, architecture, religion, philosophical views, art, and music.

British Armed Forces Allowances

There are a wide variety of allowances to make up for expenses that service personnel may have to pay out in the course of their duties.

British Armed Forces Deployment

You knew this day might come when you first joined the Armed Forces. It's time to ship out, and serve the interests of your country. There's a lot of work to be done, not the least of which is getting your (and your family's) affairs in order.

British Armed Forces Reservists Deployment

Being a Reservist and balancing a civilian job, family obligations, and military duties is difficult enough. It only gets more difficult if you're called up to active duty.

British Armed Forces Pay Rates

The pay for the different services is broadly similar, but they are affected by a number of factors such as length of service, the particular trade or specialisation you perform and the level of responsibility.

British Armed Forces Pension

The pension scheme is one of the benefits of Armed Forces as you do not make any direct contributions towards it and your benefits are calculated from your final pensionable pay. There are two pension schemes for the Armed Forces depending on whether you joined before or after 6th April 2005.

Charities & Fund Raising

There was a time when the members of HM forces were not particularly recognised, it could be argued, for the duties performed in dangerous circumstances abroad. This has of course changed. Perhaps because of the controversy surrounding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan our Armed Forces became a prominent fixture in the media world, and all our worlds.

Family Issues in the Forces

A member is experiencing her first deployment and she feels a little lost. She asks some good questions, but one of them really caught my eye and made me think: When does the pain of deployment stop?

Finding a Job

In everyday life thousands of adults have difficulties focusing on the job. While more than 4 percent of working adults are diagnosed with ADHD, vast numbers of undiagnosed adults struggle with being successful in the workplace.

Golden Hellos & Pay Incentives

There are a number of different bonuses available for specific roles within the Armed Forces. These are due to simple supply and demand issues, the MoD have to fill key roles and if there are not sufficient numbers coming into the Service interested in those roles they are forced to offer extra incentives.

Military Discounts

There is so much to do ... and easy to have fun with friends and family. Enjoy your time!

Personal Finance

Dealing with Debt can be a difficult and lonely experience. However, there is always help and support at hand and it need not be a lonely experience. You can be sure that you are not alone in this, if you're facing debt or bankruptcy for example, there are many other people and familes facing the prospect of rising debt.

Royal Air Force (RAF)

The first RAF squadron (then as the RFC – Royal Flying Corps) was formed in 1912 and it upgraded to aircraft in 1914. The RAF is the oldest independant air force in the world with a long proud history, serving in all the major conflicts that took place during the 20th century, and continuing to do so in the 21st.

Now the RAF provide air support for a wide range of uses, both at war and in peace time. During the Cold War the RAF was an integral part of Britain’s nuclear deterrant.

British Army

The British Army has a long and distinguished history, not to mention a very complicated hierarchy for the Regiments and Corps. This section summarises the history and the functions of the different aspects of the modern British Army.

HMForces.co.uk - What Does it Offer You?

It's a new online space designed exclusively for the UK military and naval community: The British Army, The Royal Navy, The Royal Marines and The Royal Air Force, to connect and develop their careers.

However, if you're also civilian and have a member of your family in the armed forces, are a spouse or a friend or have a general interest, then there's lots of info available for you too.

So, What’s The Score?

Do you need advice on landing a great civilian job once you leave the Forces? Curious if you’re claiming all the benefits you’re entitled to receive?

Or, just want to banter about which Service really works the hardest? Or want to taste the nostalgia of the old days?

This site isn't just about the serving folk but the ones who have already served in whatever service. In addition, if you're civilian you can find a lot of advice and jokes about the life that you're comtemplating joining - and it is a different life make no mistake. Check out all the best and most up to date joining instructions for the Armed Forces.

AND IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU check out the COMPETITIONS, QUIZZES and MIND GAMES, and a MILITARY BOOK SHOP

for your intellectual side (but if you can't be bothered with your intellectual side there's some daft games in the FORUMS too), and a GEAR section where you can review the latest military equipment available.

However, since the site will always be a work in progress and as it is entirely about and for members of the Armed Forces – your feedback is crucial.

Please drop us a line if you have an idea for a new feature, want us to investigate something, or even if you’ve found a broken link.

Thanks!

Stewart Thompson

General Manager

Armed Forces Allowances Update

The Armed Forces (Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force) do give a number of allowances (despite what you hear about Armed Forces cuts etc).

There are specific lead allowances for service personnel assigned to seagoing units to compensate for the extra time spent away from home; Travel expenses can usually be claimed for duty journeys from a normal place of work for all the services; there is the Local Overseas Allowance (LOA) – Contributes to the additional costs of day-to-day living in an overseas county; Special Messing Allowance (SMA), and Overseas Furniture Provision Scheme (OFPS). These are only a few of them that are actually available.

There are many more allowances available and you'll find them here in our British Armed Forces Allowances section. Here's a few more:

General Allowances for Service Personnel

Travel Expenses In The Armed Forces
Travel and Subsistence when Living Overseas

Child Related Benefits In the Armed Forces

The links above take you to sections where you'll find articles explaining the different types of allowances open to you. However, in the previous 12 months there have been many changes.

This article describes some of those changes that directly affect the Armed Forces and their families.

As part of a comprehensive spending review, a direct consequence of 2010's Strategic Defence and Security Review, the changes all began end of 2010. It was announced that more than £250 million would be stripped from the armed forces' £880m allowances budget ordered by the Treasury.

Needless to say, the first to go, deemed too extraneous were perks for senior officers, such as payment for chefs and cleaners, drivers or gardeners.

Military personnel of all ranks have been asked to make personal financial contributions to allowances such as those which cover travelling from home to work.

Payments to cover travel to sports events and training facilities are also considered to be vulnerable to culling. Military travel allowances last year cost the government £54 million.

Defence chiefs accepted the cuts with regret but also claimed it could 'seriously damage troop morale'.

Some senior defence sources have criticised the move but others have welcomed it - our opinion is that the Armed Forces cannot be compared to MP's claiming expenses. However, cuts have to be made, and naturally expenses and perks are always the fist to be culled. This is replicated right across the private sector too. In fact some within the Armed Forces have claimed many officers are 'living beyond their means' and that the cuts will prevent fraudulent claims.

One issue however that has thrown up opposition is the examination and possible culling of the Continuity of Education Allowance, which helps pay for the private school fees. CEA costs the taxpayer £180m a year and is claimed by 5,500 service families.

As well as allowances, all forms of the armed forces specialist pay – which makes up a significant proportion of the salaries of pilots, comms crew, divers, bomb disposal experts, submariners and members of the special forces – is also to be examined and it looks like there will be inevitable cuts to these looking towards 2012. However, in our view the cuts cannot be too severe for specialist pay, as part of the remuneration for taking on extra duty and skills is the specialist pay rate in the first place. Take too much of that away and how can recruiters attract candidates into the specialist trades?

Qualified aeroplane and helicopter pilots, as well as specialist aircrew, can earn up to an extra £40 a day on top of their salaries even if their job does not involve flying.

Politicians argue that Pilots for example should only be paid the extra specialist pay when they are flying.

Under the current allowances scheme pilots are still paid the full "flying pay" for three years once they have left a "flying job". SDSR considers this too 'generous', the extra pay is worth millions of pounds to pilots who do not fly and submariners who no longer serve at sea. George Osbourne described this as 'staggering'.

Local Overseas Allowance, is paid to troops serving abroad where the cost of living is more expensive than the UK, will also be reduced (but the number of places that are more expensive than the UK are disappearing). In 2009/10 LOA cost the MoD £224m.

---------

When dealing with expenses you must pay up front and then claim back what is owed by providing a valid receipt. Otherwise, if you can't provide the receipt you'll get nothing.

There are still many good allowances available to the Armed Forces but in these unsettling economic times those perks are slowly disappearing. However, some essential perks will stay but don't let all this put you off, the Armed Forces still offers what many jobs in the private sector cannot.

War in Afghanistan: Comment

Following the tragic death of yet another young soldier in Afghanistan, the message to the Government must be what? To give up the apparently utterly futile conflict in Afghanistan and bring all British forces back home as quickly as possible? Or to dig ourselves in for yet another few more years before we pull out? After all we commited ourselves to aiding the Afghan people by removing terrorists (and inadvertently the Taliban) and traditionally, we are a stubborn lot, we like to see things through.

I wasn't born until the 1970's but as far as I know, during the previous 80 years the only time we've ever retreated with our pride damaged was at Dunkirk and during Suez. Every other conflict we've been involved in we've been a thorn in the side of the opposition.


Is that enough to remain? To maintain our prestige and in addition, more significantly, to preserve the memory of the fallen can only but strengthen our resolve to see this conflict to the bitter end. And despite the recent deaths, it is quickly coming to and end. The Taliban are in disarray themselves and have split several ways into rival factions. But whose propaganda can we believe?

Some would argue however, that this is a war which should never have been begun. Almost 400 British lives have been lost, and many more times that number have been injured and maimed. Afghanistan is basically still a medieval tribal country, with regions dominated by local warlords and an economy almost entirely based on opium. What possibility is there of forcing it to become a western-style democracy and establishing human rights as we understand them in the west?

The original reason for invading 10 years ago was to capture Osama bin Laden and destroy his terrorist organisation, Al Qaeda. Hasn't this been done? Bin Laden is now dead and his international terrorist group is nominally based in Pakistan, Sudan, and Somalia.

Frank Roberts - HMForces.co.uk

The British Armed Forces has a long tradition of custom, pagentry, and history.

Trooping the Colour

Like it or not, the naval and military services are bound up in the cultural life of the United Kingdom; its languages, architecture, religion, philosophical views, art, and music.

Whether you are loyalist or republican, that cultural life is part of this Island’s great cultural heritage which you are a part of, surrounded by and invited to join, irrespective of your background – something the British (whether that’s Irish, Welsh, Scottish or English) have always been reticent and moderate in talking about – you should have and will have chances to enjoy all that the military has to offer. If you’re a spouse of a service member, your child or friend, or sibling may be serving, get involved, don’t miss the opportunity to have some great fun.

Even if you’re not part of the forces or a friend is serving, you can be a part of it too, as the majority of people who enjoy these event are not military.

Not only is our cultural heritage important per se (Why? Well it is a part of your identity and moral duty to learn and enjoy these events), it also gives you and your family great opportunities to celebrate events together, create ideas for get-togethers and parties at home and in your local community – specially if you live on the patch. It’s a great way to meet and make new friends, for you and your children.

We’re going to list the events for you in chronological order starting with January but focusing on the lesser know events and days rather than festivals like Easter. On that note, movable feasts change dates year on year (such as Easter) never falling on the same date but rather on the same day. In addition this is a list of British events, not celebrating exclusivity.

Furthermore, not all events are Bank Holidays (there’re only 8 official Bank Holidays while some years have extra such as a Royal Wedding or holidays in lieu if Christmas or New Year fall on a weekend) but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate something or take it as an excuse to have a party! However, some Regiments have holidays that are not enjoyed by the Public such as the Queen’s Official Birthday. So if you want more holidays get involved with the Armed Forces!

Just Click on a link below to take you to a page which will show you all the events for that month.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Benefits of Joining the British Armed Forces: Why Would You?

In a nutshell... why on earth would you join the Armed Forces? It's rubbish pay, and you could get killed.

Not only that, you're a bit left wing and believe in a protest against imperialism (you might even be one of those nutters from Muslims Against Royal Familes or whatever nonsense they are called) and speaking out for the British common man, therefore you don't want to join the UK Armed Forces. You could be a disaffected former member of the Or you might not believe in war at all despite the UK Armed Forces being primarily an expeditionary defence force for at least the past 250 years. It hasn't embarked upon any sort of conquest for centuries (you might argue Empire existed BUT that was started by trading companies NOT the Armed Forces).

Whatever your objections, and they are many, they'd be against everything you believed in.

Besides, you never voted for the ConDem government nor even deputy Nick Clegg nor even the PM David Cameron. So why should you join?

Well, to put it into perspective - your oath of alligence is to the Head of state, in this case the Queen and your Regiment not to the government. Utter tosh you might say as the British head of state is powerless. The Commons runs things. True.

But none can deny that indeed you do swear your Oath of Allegiance to the Squadron or regiment, most of whom are your fellow Britons; and often in the case of the Army people from the same town or county. These are the good folk that you back and protect in a conflict. Most of which are common men and women. The heart of industry of this country.

Secondly - the money is not THAT poor. It's lower yes initially but not in the long term. Look for an equivalent job as a civilian that has the benefits of the military equivalent and pound to a penny you actually WON'T find one.
A Chef on a cruise ship won't earn £16k PA when they start but one on a Royal Navy ship will - but that's just one insignificant example.

The basic benefits included in most armed forces jobs are:

1. Free medical and dental care

2. Good rent for often decent accomodation

3. Job security which is poor in the private sector. Albeit until 2011 the public sector was safe but ride out this financial storm and things should be right again by 2013.

4. 6 weeks paid holidays plus bank holidays. You'll never find this in a civilian company (maybe if you work in a highly paid financial job in the city or are a banker however).

5. Despite the public sector cuts, Armed Forces still has of the best pension plans on the market.

But be realistic

The UK's Armed Forces are one of the largest in the world in terms of power projection. Deployed in a number of serious armed conflicts throughout the globe, it's likely that you might find yourself in one of these conflicts.

Which you may not take to as much as the next person...

Cameron, Obama, and Sarkozy vow Gaddafi must go - Regime Change then?

Looks like it's back to business once again for our Armed Forces.

Althought not quite sure we've quite got the logistics to just do it this time round. It's just been announced on BBC News that Cameron, Obama, and Sarkozy have said in a joint letter that there can be no peace in Libya while Gaddafi stays in power... mmmmm, looks like blatant regime change is on the cards then; despite a UN resolution clearly stipulating the contrary.

2003

The last time the UK got involved in regime change we got stung well and truely, and lambasted by the international community.
Funny too how the French have suddenly changed their foreign policy. Wonder why that is...? They were no where to be seen when we went into Iraq.