Is a train driver worth more than a Naval Officer?

[deltic]

The problem that I have experienced within the military departments is that it is only ever retired senior members that speak out.

Because serving military personnel are not allowed to speak out and senior personnel are like civil servants unable to criticise government policy.

 

[Busaholic]

Tommy Cooper used to tell the joke that he owned both a Rembrandt and a Stradivarius. ''Trouble is, Rembrandt made the violin and Stradivarius did the painting.'' Told in his customary way, I can assure you it had them rolling in the aisles.

It's much the same attempting to compare a train driver with a naval officer. If you need a train driving you don't ask a naval officer if he/she would have a go at it any more than you'd ask a train driver to manoeuvre a ship. Both jobs are highly important and their pay should be commensurate. That doesn't mean to say that one is 'worth' more than the other. On matters of worth, though. I'm prepared to acknowledge that GB News presenters should receive no more than minimum wage.

 

[Lost property]

Never in this case means after about 1968? (I will check), when food and accommodation charges were first introduced.

That's correct and, by a happy coincidence, increased at the same amount as the annual pay award.

However, now there is something beloved of bean counters called "Pay to Dine / Starve " and what is considered to be a core meal, anything else that you would reasonably expect to be included has to be paid for.

Going back to said former officer, and the comparison with train drivers, what he omits to mention is the tax free lump sum and pension at the end of service. Let's just say he won't be living in poverty.

How does this compare to a train drivers service ?

As for recruitment, retention is the problem. Recruitment is relatively easy, even more so when a conflict is taking place, but very few saw the military as their potential life long career resulting in their own wee and snot encrusted chair in the Sgts Mess for example. Their time was useful for building a portfolio of experience on their CV for the future.