The Politics/Religion/Conspiracies Deathmatch Thread

[ToddG NBUnited]

armed forces dudes, quick question - not having a go i just want to know

you get paid more on active service yeah, but when you're not on active service, do you get paid considerably less? are blokes lining up to get posted away as much as they can to get more bankroll? or do you not have a choice and you go when the man tells you?

is there a quota system for who gets to go when?

Bit of a delayed reply. But all members of Defence once qualified get a service allowance of ~$12000pa, being in the navy it's a bit different to the other services we get an extra allowance for being posted to a ship, and it varies depending on the amount of time you've spent posted to ships previously.
0-3yrs ~$12000pa
3-6yrs ~$18000pa
6-11yrs ~$25000pa
11+yrs ~$29000pa

Army and RAAF get extra allowances when they are out in the bush too.

Depending on what area of the middle east you are operating in the pay changes aswell.
$125 for where we were on my last trip
$200 is the basic in country(Afghanistan/Iraq) allowance
and $250 for the infantry guys that are out on the ground patrolling.

My Base wage is ~$58000 but an infantry soldier is sitting at about ~$45000. http://content.defencejobs.gov.au/pd...t_PayRates.pdf

As for people trying to chase the money on trips, as a rule of thumb you're meant to wait 12months from getting back before you go on another trip in saying that if they need you you can get sent without much say. At the same time it's a lot easier to say no these days as chances are there is someone who hasn't been on a trip and is willing to take your place. Thats how it is in the Navy anyway, not sure about the Army and RAAF.

So to summarise all of those ramblings, yeah its a fair bit extra that we get whilst deployed but what we are on back in Aus isn't too bad even though the hours can be quite long. And thats not counting the Rental assistance and free medical / dental etc.