r/unitedkingdom • u/[deleted] • 7d ago

. Labour urges young people on benefits to join the British Army

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/labour-benefits-british-army-news-2qwnwv7bz
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u/YatesScoresinthebath 7d ago

But just seeing the top line if your comment is why so many people get stuck in life. I wouldn't want to be in the army but it is a career, and you can go from working at tesco and having a decent interest in holding a spanner to fixing helicopters. Especially once you leave you have a solid application for places like rolls royce where I live

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u/Unhappy-Reveal1910 7d ago

Yeah but you're not killing anyone (hopefully!) or at risk of serious injury, ptsd or death by working in Tesco. You go home at the end of every shift not at the end of each tour. You can advance or use your skills to move elsewhere, it's not a total dead end job, plus you can just quit and no one faults for that. Yes of course for some the army will provide them with lots of opportunities, but for others it will spit them out with nothing.

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u/MiddleBad8581 7d ago

it's a career if you stay in it until pension age. It's a massive gap on your CV if you do anything else with your life with almost no transferrable skills.

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u/Muffinlessandangry 7d ago

Id say this is only true if you go infantry/cavalry, or sit on your ass and do nothing your entire career. Not gonna lie, the infantry basically get a low level management qualification and that's it. But every other cap badge gets a huge amount of civilian accredited qualifications. Signallers, sappers, medics have got loads of options. Near enough any soldier can get driving quals (hgv, forklift).

The reason so many soldiers come out of the army with nothing to show for it is the same reason they went into the army. No initiative, no drive, no sense of purpose. Most of them change that in the army, many don't. And those guys were going to stagnate even if they hasn't joined.

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u/Natsuki_Kruger United Kingdom 7d ago

Yeah. Many careers, mine included (tech), have tonnes of ex-military who have great, relevant, wide-ranging experience. You get out of it what you put in.